Lady of Cinder and Fire
by MorriganKate
Summary: An unfortunate Undead. Long forgotten lore of the past. An ancient land, hidden and filled with Hollows and worse. Accompany Claire OC , a Pyromancer from the Great Swamps on her journey to the cinder of the first flame.
1. Prologue: An unfortunate Undead

So, a few things first: This isn't my first fanfiction, but it is my first one in english, so please be so kind and tell me my mistakes and what I could do better. I will try my best to make not to many mistakes, but since english isn't my mother tongue, I guess I will be still making a few. So, enough with talking! Have fun reading!

Edit 1(September 26, 2012): Corrections of a few mistakes, hopefully better readable

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><p>Prologue: The unfortunate Undead<p>

Claire desperately tried to hide her Darksign beneath her manchette as she went by the black armoured guards that were guarding the street. The Darksign marked her as an Undead - cursed to lose her mind and her humanity eventually. Even though she still looked human enough with her braided silver hair, her dark grey eyes and the pale skin the dark sign still marked her. She had escaped being shipped of to the Undead Asylum for now but she didn't know how long she would be able to hide. Her pyromancy flame gleamed softly while her axe dangled against her hip as she started to walk faster. Claire needed to get back to her hometown as she promised her little brother Sven. She was out teaching pyromancy to earn money so she and her brother could survive as the curse struck her. At the time she discovered her condition, she made an oath to at least return once to her brother to bid her farewells, but her pursuers proved persistent. Especially one, a low classed knight seemed eager to get her into the Asylum. She shuddered, not because of the cold air around her, but of her fear. Certainly she would go hollow in there, where every single Undead was brought to. Claire remembered the fairy tales and ghost stories of it - a place, forsaken by Lord Gwyn, full of death and hollows, not to mention the demons and ghosts. She gritted her teeth while she made her way through the crowd. An armour-clad, strong hand stopped her.

"Where do you think you are going?"

She turned around. It was the knight. Claire bit her lip. Should she beg? Should she tell him her story? Asking him to visit her brother? She opted for the second choice.

"Dear Sir, please, listen to my story first. Have compassion and humanity. I beg this of you!"

She couldn't see his face, as it was hidden beneath his dull grey helmet. Then he grabbed her arm to force her off the road into a small alley.

"Speak fast, Undead." he snarled.

"Please, sir, my little brother is waiting for me. Let me see him! After that, I will go to the Asylum without hesitation! This is my last wish as a human."

"You are from the Great Swamp, are you not?" The knight asked.

"Yes, sir, I am. I am living near the borders, it is not far away. And if I am not allowed to go, then I beg of you, please give him word from me and my money, so he will not starve to death."

"Very well. But I will accompany you as a part of my duty. But if you lose your mind on the way there or try to kill me, neither of us will visit your dear brother."

"Yes." Claire bowed my head, clutching her fists. Then for all she knew, she did not knew, when she will turn hollow or if the knight simply decides to drop her off at the next courthouse, so he can have the bounty on an Undeads head.

"And your name is?"

"Claire of the Great Swamps. May I hear yours?"

"Duncan, Knight of the Grey Oath."

"Thank you, dear sir, for your kindness."

He huffed and stepped back on the main street. "We will see if my kindness pays out."

Duncan and Claire left the little town and walked down the roads that would bring them to the Great Swamps. As soon as they left the town and the few travellers fell behind, Claire tossed back her hood. Her silver white hair gleamed in the golden sun, as she disentangled her long braids. "What are you doing?" Duncan asked harshly.

"I am letting my hair down. Who knows, how long I can stay like this out at the sun."

Duncan sighed. "If I am getting found out, I will be banished to the Asylum as well. "He hissed. "Or tortured and killed. So either you wear the hood or I will take you to the next courthouse on the road."

Claire frowned and put her hood back on. She secretly thought of disobeying, but the thought of her brother let her become obedient.

As they rested at nightfall, they spoke little. Claire lit up a small fire and squat down in front of it. She loved playing with her flames, the heat they radiated as well as the play of light and shadow they cast. She smelled the cinder, almost like it would be cinnamon mixed with cloves and saffron. Duncan watched her from the other side of the fire.

"You are a fine pyromancer. "He said suddenly.

She ignored him.

"Why are Undead so much attracted to the fire and yet despise it so much?"

Claire let her flame travel to her Darksign. "They are attracted to it?", she asked.

"I saw it on many journeys." He shrugged, letting the metal of his armour screech. "They reach out for the flames as we pass by and yet they back off if someone hits them with a fire ball or a torch."

"I did not know."

There was silence for a while, only the fire crackled.

"You know, I started hunting Undead, because I thought it was good." Duncan suddenly said. "But, if I see them in the carts to the Asylum, my heart aches. Some lost their mind but the worst are those who fight, cry, weep, who still have their mind intact. Even though they are cursed by the Darksign they are still so human, so vulnerable."

"Do a lot keep their mind?"

Duncan slowly raised his hands to his helmet to take it of. His face wore a grim expression. "Not for long."

The next day, they reached the Great Swamp. The usual smell of the turf greeted Claire as she breathed in. She felt sad. Tomorrow morning she will be on her way to the Asylum. Thoughts of fighting back rose in her head, but she dismissed it quickly. Before Duncan went to sleep last night he promised to take care of her brother. She, in no need of sleep, stayed awake, watching the fire and the road. Claire remembered his face clearly. He had brown eyes and black hair and was surprisingly young - not older than thirty winters. A jagged scar crossed his nose and he looked battle-harded and more grownup than she ever did. They did not speak much after Duncan talked about the Undead, yet he left a lot of questions unanswered - for example why he did listen to her request in the first place. It sure was odd but she was in no position to mistrust him now. He kept his promise this far and she hoped that he would surely not break it now. She fastened her steps.

"No running", scolded Duncan.

She ignored it as she led the way to the miserable she and her brother inhabited and calmed finally down. The whole time she asked herself what she would tell him but now it does not matter anymore. She would see him again, only to say good bye.

"Sven.", she called as she reached the hut. "Are you in?"

No response was heard.

"Maybe he went to the next town.", suggested Duncan and took of his helmet. He was breathing heavily as he had a hard time keeping up with her in his heavy armour. Claire frowned.

"He should not be in need of food right now. The food I bought shortly before I departed should have been enough for another two weeks."

"Sven!" She called again and knocked at the door. "Where are you?"

Slowly, Claire opened the door and stepped in. Duncan remained outside looking around. There was no trace of Sven, no matter where she looked. The fire was out, the hut tidy.

But no trace of Sven.

Shocking her head she went back outside. "Seemed like you were right, Duncan. He is not in."

As she lifted her head she froze. Her little brother stood over the knight, a bloodstained sword in his hands. And on the right hand there was it. The same, small ring of fire that disfigured her own hand. The Darksign.

Claire clasped her hands in front of her mouth. "No..."She cried out. "No… dear gods, no. Not you too." Sven raised his sword and attacked. There was no doubt, that her little brother went hollow. Undead, almost decayed eyes stared at her while she evaded his attack. Sword met axe as she defended herself. She felt herself crying. Claire never thought that she would cry as an Undead, but yet she did. Lifting her pyromancy hand, she backed off. Fire gathered in her palm, burning without burning her, swirling around her pale fingers. "Oh, brother, please forgive me, for what I am about to do. Let thee be guided to Nito, the first of the dead, so thee can rest in peace." She throws the small fire ball. Her brother - or that what remained of him - screamed furiously, as the flames engulfed him, reducing him in a matter of seconds to ashes. A few sparks flew around, carried by the wind, as she kneeled down by the knight that accompanied her.

He was breathing heavily and his grey armour was splattered with his blood. "I'm sorry." Claire whispered.

"Do you know why I did accompany you?" he asked. A small stream of blood flew down his chin.

Claire shock her head.

"You remind me of my younger sister. She would be as old as you, if she would not have gone hollow. It brought back a lot of memories." He looked her in her eyes, the first time after she met him. "My younger sister carried the Darksign, went hollow and killed a lot of people. I… wanted to atone, for what I did. That I did not send her to the Asylum, as it would have been my duty. So I started hunting Undead, the bearers of the Darksign. But my sister… haunted me. She is always there… every Undead I caught and helped sending to the Asylum. Every..." His voice started to faint. "What are you going to do now? Going hollow, get mindless? Or… will you not?"

"I will eventually." I tried to smile.

"Give me a kiss."

"Excuse me?"

"Fulfill my last wish. I did as well." he started coughing. "I am not asking a lover's kiss - but a kiss you would give a brother."

She moved her hand along his scar. "I'm sorry." She leaned down and planted a soft kiss at his cheek, than at his forehead.

"Claire, thank you. Thank you for stay with me till the end. Please, try to stand your ground till the very end."

He moved his hand, entwined it with hers and let something small and round fall in her hands. As Claire opened her hand, she saw a small ring, engraved with a script she did not know. As she looked at his face again, she saw, that he had truly died. His brown eyes stared blindly at the heavens and Claire closed them softly. "Thank you for listening to my request. Thank you for accompanying me. Thank you for everything."

She did not know, how long she stayed like this, but as the knights and soldiers came, she remained at his cold, lifeless body and clutching the ring he gave her tightly. Claire did not fight back, as they took her weapons and enchained her.


	2. Chapter 1: Old tales and truths

**So, Chapter 1! Again, please inform me of mistakes (languages, content,...) if you spot them.**

**And before I forget it again: Dark Souls does not belong to me. If it would, than I would not be spending time writing a fanstory,...**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Old tales and truths<strong>

The chained down Undeads moaned and whispered. It truly was frightening, like a dark forest in a storm. Claire pressed her back against the wall of the cart, while the old woman beside her made feeble noises in the back of her throat. The old woman was shaking, pressing a pendant against her chest. Claire sighed and tried to look out of the cart. Grey mountain ranges, grey stone and grey cliffs greeted her view, as well as dancing snowflakes in the wind. The guards riding past the small opening were just blurry shadows. Since Duncan died, her body changed for the worse: Where before have been smooth, albeit pale skin, now all was left a rotting body which only vaguely reminded of a body. Muscles and sinews were shown, only her hair stayed as silver as ever. Even her eyes dulled and she could not see clearly anymore. It bore no resemblance to the body of the young woman anymore, which left her brother to earn a living. Indeed, she changed into a grotesque monster. There would be no way out of the Northern Undead Asylum; just her death was awaiting her in its depths.

"Child, do you know the legend of the lords?" It was the first time, the old woman spoke. Her undead eyes gleamed in the dark of the carriage.

"No, grandmother, I do not." Claire answered quietly.

"In the age of the Ancients, the world was unformed, shrouded by fog. A land of grey crags, arch trees and everlasting dragons. But then there was Fire. And with Fire came disparity. Heat and cold, life and death, and of course... light and dark. Then, from the Dark they came and found the Soul of Lords within the flame. Nito, the first of the death. The Witch of Izalith, and her daughter of Chaos. Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight and his faithful knights. And the furtive pygmy, so easily forgotten. With the strength of Lords they challenged the dragons. Gwyn's mighty bolts peeled apart at their stone scales. The witches waved great firestorms. Nito unleashed a miasma of death and disease. And Seath the Scaleless betrayed his own and the dragons were no more. Thus began the Age of Fire..." The old woman started coughing. "Please, grandmother, save your strength." Claire said, letting her hood slide down her neck.

"But soon the flames will fade and only Dark will remain. Even now, there are only embers and man does not see not light, but only endless nights. And among the living there are seen, carriers of the accursed Darksign."

She started coughing heavily again, then slumped. Claire knew what would happen next. The next time, the old woman would awake; she would have gone hollow, like many others before. Claire let her body sink against the wall once more and closed her undead eyes. She remembered Duncan's words clearly, as he would whisper in her ears_. "But, if I see them in the carts to the Asylum, my heart aches. Some lost their mind but the worst are those who fight, cry, weep, who still have their mind intact. Even though they are cursed by the Darksign they are still so human, so vulnerable."_

He was right. It felt like hell. Everything around Claire seemed to rot, to die, to wither like flowers in a hellish fire. The pain she felt for losing, no, for having to kill her brother, the pain of seeing people die, the pain of seeing people going hollow – was too much to bear. She crawled herself in a little ball, trying to block out the scenery. Crows croaked in the near, the wind was howling and the undead screamed, wept, cried, moaned.

Claire felt two of the knights guiding her. She didn't fight back, having lost the will to fight. A creaking gate was first opened, than she was thrown down a hole. After that, heavy iron bars closed the hole that was out of reach. As she stood up and looking at the small hallway, she saw the other Undead of her track. The old lady that had gone hollow mere hours ago were mindlessly thrashing against the wall, while the others, some hollow, some not, were apathetically lying down or sitting down on the ground. From afar screams reached Claire's ears, as well as howling and chains smashing against stone. Her weapons, even her pyromancy flame, were gone and so she tried in a hopeless attempt the lock at the door. The door didn't move and so Claire let herself fall down in a corner of her cell, pressing something that looked like a doll against her. Hope was all gone – all she could do, was to wait to rot.

She discovered that she was some kind of different from the Undead one month after her capture. Claire's body continued to rot, but she still kept her mind. Observing the other hollows, she discovered that they did not walk around much either, as would something frightening would keep them from moving. One month later, the next transport arrived. As the time went by, she discovered as well, the same things happened. After the third group arrived, an even stranger thing happened. A body fell down her cell, through the same hole she fell in half a year ago. As she looked up, a faint ray of sunlight touched her rotten face and her eyes and for the first time in six months she felt something like hope and power. A knight stood there, armoured and ready to fight. He turned around without another word and Claire quickly crawled to the body, only to find a small, rusty key. Creaking the former locked door opened up and Claire remembered to take a broken sword, to at least have something to defend herself –even if it was a sword hilt with blunt, broken blade. Careful she went through the small passageway she stared into the last half year and evaded the hands of the Undead that tried to grab her. Water dripped down the wall and rats flee as she neared. The water gathered at a small basin and Claire, still careful and high-strung, made her way to an iron ladder that was leading up to the floor level. The cool snow beneath her feet was unused after the long imprisonment and so was the cold, clear sun. A few seconds she remained standing still, letting the sun shine on her face. Claire never thought, she would be glad, to feel the sun again, since she lived in the cloudy, rainy Swamps, but now... it felt good and instilled some new hope in her heart. Whoever helped her to escape, she was grateful. Now, everything else that was left was to find her weapons again and a way out. She did not know where to head after that, but maybe, just maybe, there was a way to break the curse once and for all. Clutching the new hope she headed to a small bonfire before a great gate. It was unlit, but she carefully stretched out her hand, in the hope, that there was a spark left, that could light it again. A burning branch would be better fitted as the sword hilt she held no but she was unlucky. Not even the smallest spark lit and the ashes were as cold as the snow around the fire. Sighing she stepped up to the gate and slowly pushed it open. The wooden gate was not moving easily and she had a hard time pushing it open, in order to get through. Instead of an open landscape she found a small court, stone walls preventing to see out. Claire noted that deep cuts were to be seen at the walls, the pillars and the ground and she heard a loud rumbling from above. Frightened she looked up and saw the ugliest demon she ever saw before. Claire started running, trying to evade the heavy hits of the demon. She still got hit, flying against one of the walls. While she was trying to get back on her legs, the Demon slowly came closer. What would normally kill a human could not kill an Undead; she managed to get to her feet and started dashing towards a small door, where the Demon did not fit through. Barely escaping with her (undead) life she sank against the wall, trying to catch her breath. Only apart a few meters the Demon was determined to crash the wall – she could hear its frustrated screams and the impact, when its mace hit the stone walls. Following the stairs up to a narrow passage, Claire discovered a shield just outside. Quickly getting it and strapping it to her right forearm (she was left handed) she held it up, in order to not getting hit by the arrows an undead fired towards hear. As she looked closer, the corpse which held the shield had also a short sword – it may be blunt, but still better than a shattered sword hilt. Looting the corpse she also found the leather scabbard and a broad leather belt. After she was equipped she slowly made her path up the hill in order to send the undead to its real, quick death. It seemed to acknowledge, that it would stood no chance against the pyromancer so it decided to run, but did not came far. Claire's newfound sword pierced it right in the middle of its abdomen and with a kick she sent the Undead to the ground for good. Turning left, she headed for the next staircase and looked into the court from earlier. The demon still seemed occupied with trying to smash the walls while Claire quietly sneaked to the next stairs. Only inches before the stairs she looked up – and jumped. A metal ball crashed into the wall and the demon howled angrily, as it realized that its pry was at the first floor. Swearing, Claire stood up and an Undead hurled itself at her. She shocked it of and kicked it of the floor. The demon swung its mace, crushing even more pillars and the Undead. Heavy breathing were to be heard from the cell and as she turned around and moved closer to the hole in the wall that was short before created by the ball, she saw her liberator lying at rubble, ruins and stones. He turned his head, alarmed by her entry. "Oh, it's you." he murmured and settled back at his mountain of rubbish, letting his head lay down on a piece of wall. "Thank goodness you are no Hollow." he added as Claire came closer. "But, I guess, I'm done for, I'm afraid."

"What happened?" I asked.

"I tried to get out. And that demon attacked me as I set foot just before the gate."

Claire kneed beside him. There was no mistake that he would die soon. His whole armour was crashed and full with blood, his sword blunt. He must have fighted like mad, just to end up like that in a cell full of water.

"Perhaps you could keep the torch lit..." he murmured quietly and looked at her through his visor. "Would you like to listen to my request?"

Claire nodded and took his hand. "You saved from my cell. I would like to settle this debt to you."

"My name is Oscar, Knight of Astora. What is your name?"

"I am Claire, Pyromancer of the Great Swamps. What is your request, Oscar?"

"Regrettably, I failed my mission. I could not keep my oath as a knight of my family. A saying is passed down since centuries in my family. As old as the world it seems. I set my hopes in it, to find out if it is truth or just an old wife's tale, but... as you can see..." He paused.

"How does the saying go?" Claire asked.

"_Thou who art Undead, art chosen, in thine exodus from the Undead Asylum, maketh pilgrimage to the land of Ancient Lords, Lordran. When thou ringeth the Bell of Awakening, the fate of the Undead shalt know._"

"Lordran?"

"Yes – the place Lord Gwyn was born. Now you know... And I can die with hope in my heart."

"How can you keep your hope when you are dying?" Claire thought of her dead brother and of Duncan, who died because of her.

Oscar chuckled. "Because... Well, you would not understand."

"Try to explain."

"Whenever I look at the sun, feel the touch of the sunlight... I always know that there will be always hope. Maybe as a way out of locked dungeon. If I am not holding to it, then somebody else will. And..." He paused. "_Fate of the Undead... _I wonder what it is referring to."

"Do you actually believe that the Curse of the Undead can be lifted or why are you telling me that?"

"Let me have hope, my fellow undead. _Every curse that was cast can be lifted. _That is a saying in Astora. Let me give this to you before you depart. Here are Estus Flasks, a drink to regain strength and popular among the undead. And as well the key out of the Asylum. You will need to beat the Demon first, but I am sure that you will find your way. I entrust my last will and my hope to you, Claire of the Great Swamps. Make sure to honour these hope. But now go – I bid you farewell. I would hate to harm you after death, so please go."

Claire pressed his hand once more than she stood up.

"Thank you, Claire of the Great Swamps. Thank you, for listening to me."

"That settles our debt." she said. "I will carry your hope from this moment, even though I do not know how to accomplish your mission."

"I believe that you will know when the time is right. Thank you again. Farewell."

"Farewell, Oscar, Knight of Astoria."

Claire quickly disposed the Undeads at the top of the staircase. From her current position she was able to see outside: a lonely mountaintop with ruins on it was everything she was able to see. Grey clouds casted shadows on the whole world. To Claire, it looked like a storm was coming – but the howling could be due to the demon still guarding the gate to her freedom. Claire did not know if it would be her way to her freedom – at the moment it rather seems like the gate to a rather quick death. She did not even know where in the world Lordran was, but if it was to comfort this foolish knight – very well. It did not matter much, where she would went hollow but when she went hollow she would at least do it fighting in the light of day, not while rotting in a cell with vermin. Wind moved her messy and untidy hair, blocking her sight for a few seconds. Armour rattled and an Undead stroke at her from the front. Blocking with her shield, she swung her sword in order to slash its throat, but it quickly moved outside of her range. It was taller than the other Hollows before and it wore armour as well as a sword. Claire lifted her sword and the Undead jumped with a shrill cry at her, sword lifted about its head. She dodged, the sword struck the ground and she beheaded the Hollow with a swing. It staggered shortly, than fell to the ground. Claire carefully moved around a corner. The demon roared again, she could see it moving in the court. She hesitated. With her flames it would not be much of an obstacle, but without them it was an entirely different story. Claire sighed. It seemed impossible, since the walls were too high to even _think_ about jumping down.

What should she do?

The answer was found easily: Right behind a rock she found a pyromancy hand. Upon further surveying it, Claire was surprised that it actually was her own; the one she thought would have gone forever. As she tried it one, she felt the familiar warmth it send up her arm. She concentrated and a small flame lit up, forming a fire ball, then sneaking up her arm. The used feeling eased her anxiety and she gave a small smile. If she wanted to get out, there was no way, except for the gate the demon watched. And to deal with it, there was just one way. It was pretty much crazy, to even attempt to fight against it, but who knows? Claire was dead anyway. A small, former window led to the court. It was high up, but not as high as she would not survive the fall. Claire breathed in and as the demon moved beneath her, she jumped the word in both her hands. She landed on the demon's neck and rammed her blade into it. The demon roared and shacked, trying to grab her but she quickly jumped off. Summoning a fire ball she watched, as the demon turned around, lifting his hammer to crash her. She jumped aside and threw the fireball. The demon screamed and howled in pain and anger, while she was getting behind him. She aimed for its tensions in the hollow of the knee, but did not get through the scales being there. Cursing, she jumped aside again and again lifted her hand again to cast another fireball. The demon rose again let his hammer swing through the air, as she throw the next fire ball, this time aiming for the eyes. Howling, the demon covered his face, while Claire jumped forward to ram her sword in the abdomen of it. This time, her sword went through the scales, slicing open the thick skin. Blood and Inwards flow out, spilling a few drops of it at Claire's face and clothing. Claire stepped back, hoping that the demon would have died for real. It did not move so she carefully walked around it and backed, still looking at the detestable creature, up to the gate. Since it still was not moving, she quickly turned around, fondling with the key. As soon as the key was in the keyhole, a noise was being heard. Slowly, Claire turned around, only to see the demon rising again.

"_Oh crap_." Was everything she was able to say before she started running again. The Demon crashed into the wall, roaring full anger and half blind. Claire dashed to the other side of the court and concentrated on casting a fireball that would kill – or at least heavily wound – her enemy. As she threw it, the demon effortlessly fend of the fireball with his hammer and continued charging at her. This time, it was a truly close call. Claire managed to get away from the wall and out of the way of the raging demon and hit the knees from behind desperately. The demon did not even stagger; instead he simply tried to crush her. Claire started to panic. What should she do? All doors or gates were closed and locked; there was nowhere else to run. Claire bit her lip and raised her pyromancy hand. Flames were forming themselves in her hand, forming a fire orb. She knew that this attack was probably her last try beating the demon, or she would be crushed. She was not in the shape to use stronger pyromancy, so she needed to take him down with this last shot. The demon raised its head again and roared loudly. In the next instant Claire threw the fire orb, hoping it would work. If not, then...

The fire orb hit the demon straight in to the large wound, Claire inflicted upon him earlier. This time however, it was more effective. The flesh of demon started to burn, the stench of it was pungent and Claire held her hand in front of her almost none-visible nose. With a few steps she was at the demon that was writhing in agony. She lifted her sword and started to hack of the head, making sure, that this time it would not stand again. As she was finished with beheading it, the blood of the demon had stained her sword, her clothes, her body. The corpse continued burning and she continued hacking, mindlessly. Only after the demon was reduced to a mess of blood-soaked ash, flesh and broken bones she stopped. Her hands were shaking as she looked up to the corpse. If she would have been alive, she would have probably have thrown up, but as an Undead – neither in need of sleep, drink or food – she could not. But still, she felt nauseated at the look of her _work_. She wiped her sword clean at her clothes and stepped up to the gate, trying to forget what she had done or at least justify it. Claire unlocked the gate and pushed it open, and felt a cold gush of air against her body. The clear air, albeit overcast by deep grey clouds, promised freedom, yet Claire could not embrace it. She was at a lonely mountain top and if she would try to find Lordran, like Oscar told her to, she would not know how to start – or how to get away from the Asylum anyway. She slowly made her way through the ruins and stood at the cliff, towering above the ground. Looking down, she saw hundreds of meters down the ground. She broke out into hysterical laughter, sounding desperate. There she was! How foolish she had been! No one ever heard of an Undead breaking out of the Northern Undead Asylum – no wonder, if it was guarded by specially trained demons and a lonely mountain top, with no way down except for the way that the Undead were coming in – and that one was protected by powerful magic. She could not get away! Her journey ended before it started. She was captured here forever. I _shall be lifted – nevermore! There was no escape for me, no matter what I am doing._ Claire thought and dropped to her knees. Then she heard the rustling of giant wings. As she looked up, she saw the biggest bird she had ever seen. Ebony black, spread wings, eyes like jet stones, the beak sharp as a sword, its claws splayed, ready to grab her. Claire could not move she was frozen to the spot. And then she remembered one of the old tales, her mother used to tell her before her death:

_And the god of the war, son of Lord Gwyn, was accompanied by a crow – big as a house and strong enough to carry humans. This bird was loyal to him, even after the nameless god of war fell and lost his divine title. It is rumoured to still roam the skies – hoping to find its master._

Then the crow grabbed her and lifted her up. The claws held her almost tenderly, preventing her from falling to her death. It crowed and flew a little circle, before setting curse for southwest.

Claire's body felt cramped, as the crow sunk and flew slower. Far away she was able to spot a bridge, as well a city and a big cathedral. At the bridge there was something red lurking that was almost looking like an overgrown lizard with wings. A dragon? But before she could take a closer look, the craw sank rapidly and let her fall. Claire landed in the soft grass, feeling the earth again for the first time in hours. She moaned and looked up, only to see the crow taking place at a broken wall of a church, where it sat down and crowed triumphantly, before it started grooming its feathers. Claire sat up, carefully looking around. There was no one near at first glance, so she deemed it safe and stood up. The ruins of a church stood up behind her, once surely majestic, but now run down and filled with a pool of water. Claire stepped down a few stairs, only to find a man, quite possible an Undead like her, staring at the fire. That man could not be a Hollow, since he looked human enough and did not behave like one, since he simply sat there. It was possible, that he was just a simple human being, but she learned, not to judge a book by its cover. Not everyone, who looked human, was human and sane. That was the lesson learned at her journey to the Asylum and in the Asylum itself. As she got closer to him, he simply looked up, nodded to her and said in a sorrowful voice: "Welcome to Lordran, land of the Ancient Lords. I presume you are an Undead as well?"


	3. Chapter 2: Tales of Bells and Awakening

Next chapter, have fun reading it! Dark Souls does not belong to me, only my OCs do.

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Tales of Bells and Awakening<strong>

The dark haired man who greeted Claire sat on a stone, looking into a bonfire burning before him. He seemed to have been a warrior, because he was clad in a chain mail and a sword laid beside him. Claire stepped closer, keeping a cautious eye on him. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Just a crestfallen warrior who turned undead. You seem to be new around here."

"Yes, I just arrived." Claire did not bother to mention her means of transportation as no one would have believed her anyway. "My name is Claire, Pyromancer of the Great Swamp."

"Pyromancer, eh?" He huffed. "There was one here as well. He said something about looking for a godmother of pyromancy down in the swamps of Blighttown. Poor lad that was the last thing I heard from him."

"I am not looking for a godmother of pyromancy."

"Then for hope, I guess? There is no salvation here. You would have done better rotting in the Undead Asylum you came from. Too late now."

"I did not come for salvation. Rather for atonement."

"Atonement? You are the first one to say that."

"I have my sins to carry and a promise to keep."

"Is that so? Well, I think it is about the bells of Awakening then?"

"Bells of Awakening? There is more than one?"

"Of course, or else it would be less dangerous. To put the whole story in a nutshell: Ring them both and something is _supposed_ to happen. But there the story is getting foggy. Some talk about lifting the curse of the Undead, some about letting Lord Gwyn arise from his grave, and so on."

"Someone asked me to look into this matter."

"Someone who was to cowardly to find out himself, eh?"

"He was dying the last time I saw him."

"Oh. Sure. "

"So, where are the bells?"

"One is above us, in the Undead Church, in the bell tower. The other one is in the swamps of Blighttown, deep below us, some say that it is protected by the force of chaos itself."

"Do you have anything different to offer aside from rumours?"

"Yes. I would advise you to take the lift if you are so keen on getting to the Undead Church. But, unfortunately, it is broken. You need to head to the old waterway and from there you have to make your way through the City of the Undead. As the name implies, the whole place is crowded with Undead. And a dragon. At least one."

"A red one?"

"Oh, you already saw it then? Yes, exactly that one. Like in the stories, it spies fire, has scales at least as hard as stone and is usually in a very bad mood. If you ever have the luck to meet it, than run for you dear unlife - or else you will end up as a supper for it."

"Thank you for the advice. And the other bell?"

"Like I said, deep down in Blighttown. I do not know how to get there. Figure it out yourself. And one more thing: If I were you, you should gather some Humanity. Or you will not even make it to the Undead Church. You look pretty bad."

"Oh, thank you. I did not notice that I am turning hollow. I just spent the last six months in a cell in the Northern Undead Asylum."

"Your welcome. No need to get sarcastic. If you want to get at least a bit of it back than you should gather a bit from corpses. The other way, the much quicker one, is to kill a healthy Undead and take his Humanity. I would never do it of course."

"Of course. How does Humanity look like?"

"Black. Small. You will know when you see it. But if you decide, that your Atonement and your promise is not worth the dangers, than you can just spend your time here and waiting for the end. Much less problematic and I could use someone who is more talkative around here. I already decided to stay here and wait for it. Care to join?"

"No, thank you. I will look around a bit and then head up to Church I guess."

"Have fun."

Claire sighed and went down a few, almost hidden steps. She decided to search for a safe place to rest up and she did not feel comfortable around the crestfallen warrior. An Undead did not have to sleep, but it would speed up the process of becoming Hollow. Simply resting would be enough for her anyway. And she still had the Estus Flask. If she would need to use it, she could drink it any time. At the lower platform she found a corpse, laying there without any protection. Remembering the words of the Warrior she carefully approached the corpse and then kneeled down.

"Please forgive me, for I am taking this." she said, like a small prayer. Carefully she started looking for Humanity and soon found it. In her hand it looked fragile, small, like a shadow without light. As soon as she touched it, it seeped through her little remaining skin, and from this place it soaked her skin. Soon after that, her skin looked again like it was before, pale and smooth.

"I thank you." Claire whispered and stood up, unsure what to do. A metallic noise let her turn around, hand on her sword. That was the first time she saw the small cell, with the young woman in it. The woman was as young as her, with golden blond hair and a dirty, tattered dress. The woman moved her hands, as something would burn.

"Do you want me to burn the body?" Claire asked.

There was no verbal answer, the woman simply nodded.

Claire turned around again and lifted her pyromancy hand. As she looked at the body, she saw the face of her beloved little brother again. He had not deserved the fate of an Undead, nor that of a Hollow. He should have simply lived a normal life; even they were outcasts of society for living in the Swamps. A normal life and a normal family – was fate so cruel to deny someone innocent his life? She gritted her teeth and murmured an apology – to whom, she did not know. At her order, flames gathered around the corpse, burning it to its ashes. The disgusting stench of burning flesh stung in her nose. As a child, she loved to burn things, especially wood and turf. She had loved the flames, that eat away the material, loved the destruction it caused. Later she had loved throwing her flames; let the flames spreading wings of embers, forming beings that were painted across the open sky. But now, all that remained was destruction, cinder and burned bones. Sighing she walked over to the girl behind the bars and kneeled beside her. The girl did not stir and so Claire asked: "What is your name?"

No answer, she instead made a movement, as to signal that something was cut off.

"You cannot speak?"

The girl nodded, than pointed to the stairs.

"What about the stairs?"

The girl let her fingers move over her palm, as they would be walking.

"You want me to go?"

The girl nodded.

"Alright..." Claire frowned. "Are you sure?"

Again a nod.

"Fine with me. Farewell." She stood up again and reached out her hand through the bars. "Wait, my name is Claire. I am a Pyromancer from the Great Swamps and I am Undead. It is nice to meet you, even though I do not know your name or why you are kept here."

The girl gave a small, sad smile and her hand made a movement, as it would be flames. Then she waved.

"Good bye." Claire said and waved back. After that she headed back up the stairs and the crestfallen warrior beckoned her over.

"You met our Fire Keeper?" he asked.

"Fire Keeper?" Claire asked.

"She is stuck being here and keep the bonfire running and lit. Poor thing, really. She is mute and bound to the Firelink Shrine. Back at her back water village they probably cut out her tongue, so she will never desecrate a god's name."

"Poor girl."

"What I cannot understand is, why she keeps doing her duty. She does it every day, even though the curse will eventually erase her. How can she hold on to such a useless thing, really? I would rather run at the first chance I would get." He cracked a small laugh.

"By the way, what is the Firelink Shrine?"

"The whole area here. A long time ago, it is said to be a beautiful shrine. Now all that remains is ruins and, well, the Bonfire and its keeper. Care to stay?"

"Like I said, I have a promise to keep and to atone for my sins."

"Then go ahead. I will not stop you."

"Farewell."

"Have Fun going Hollow."

Claire drew her sword, as she saw the first Hollow. It seemed to be a sword fighter, holding a blunt sword and a shield. Claire kicked the shield down, than beheaded it. Other Hollows closed in, and she swung her sword in order to keep them away from her. Lifting her shield to block, she managed to take out two, while the other kept his distance. Too late she saw the bomb he threw at her. Flames engulfed her shield arm and she hissed in pain, as the sparks burned through her manchette. Cursing she closed in, rammed the sword in the abdomen of the Undead and hit it with her shield. It stumbled back and she ended its life with a thrust to the chest. _If things go on like this, I will never reach the Church. At least not before dusk._ She was unsure. Should she head back to the relative safety of the Bonfire or keep on going to the City. Looking at the golden and read heavens, she decided against it. She did not know how could she would be able to see in the darkness, and she did not know if there would be more Hollows active during nightfall. She sheathed her sword and turned back. It really was too dangerous, but she did not know what would await her at the Shrine. For all she know, the man back there could await here as a Hollow, ready to kill her. But maybe there would be also hints on her route, for example what would await her in the City or in the Church itself. It was not impossible that it was guarded and she also liked to know where the dragon hid. Even though she was a Pyromancer, she was not keen on getting fried – or ending up as a supper to an overgrown lizard with wings. As she descended on the stairs, it was getting gradually colder and darker, making the Shrine look even scarier than before. She ignored the other Undead and entered the Shrine itself. There was not much to be seen: The church was filled with water, almost to her hips. The water itself was cold, but clear and as she waded through it, she thought she heard a snoring. But there was no one to be seen and so she decided to ignore it. After her search, she was both relieved and down-cast. She had not found a hint on the Bells, but has not discovered a danger either. Only this snoring was to be heard, but she hoped that it would not be dangerous to her in any way. She went out, only to find a fat cleric, obviously waiting for something. "Hello there." He called.

Claire carefully closed in. As a former inhabitant of the Great Swamps, she knew that most clerics could not be trusted. Most simply assume that people living in the Swamps are equivalent to heretics, but that was simply not true. Most were only charged with the crime of heresy, but not all were true heretics. Most were just driven out of their villages by their charges into the Swamps – only so that those, who charged them, get the price.

"And you are?"

"My name is Petrus of Thorolund. I believe we are not acquainted yet?"

"My name is Claire."

"Really? You are alone, are you not?"

"Yes."

"Do you care to stay here during the night? Even the Firelink Shrine is crawling with Hollows at night. It is safer to stay together, than setting up a camp alone."

"Thank you, kind sir, but I prefer staying alone."

"You should stay here. It is too dangerous, but I can teach you miracles as well, miracles, to defend yourself from dangers."

"I will get along fine, thank you."

"It was only an offer." Petrus sighed. "I am waiting for my companions, M'lady Rhea of Thorolund and her young knights. She is burdened by an important Undead mission, and we are her shields and swords."

"I will send her to you, if I am seeing her here." Claire said. She did not trust Clerics a lot – in her eyes they were mostly just pietistic bastards that used blessings and miracles to make money. She quickly left, heading towards the cell of the Fire Keeper, hoping for a relatively safe place to stay while night. As she reached the cell, she sat beside it. The Fire Keeper crouched nearer to her and gave her a questioning look.

"I am not keen on ending up as a Hollow yet."

The girl pointed to the stairs.

"No, I am not going to the Bonfire where the depressive knight is located. I am not going to freeze – I mean, I am dead anyway. What should happen with me?"

The Fire Keeper gesture as she would eat and drink.

"Are Undead even in need of food and drinking?"

This time, she moved like she would wither and die, than she took a bit of cheese out of her cloaks.

"No thanks, keep it. I will be fine."

The Fire Keeper still held out the cheese to her.

"Really, I am fine."

The Fire Keeper shrugged and broke it into two pieces.

"No. Thank you, but I do not need it."

The hand holding the cheese was stretched out.

"All right, fine. If this makes you happy..." Claire took the cheese and stuffed it into her mouth. She expected not tasting the cheese, but instead its taste filled her mouth. Creamy, albeit a bit spicy. It was the first time in months that she ate something.

"Thank you." This time, she meant it honestly, before settling down again against the wall.

Night had fallen – a deep blue sky full with silver stars and a big silver moon, like velvet ornamented with diamonds and silver filaments. Claire sighed. The night was still young and at dawn she would rise again and head out towards the church.


	4. Chapter 3: Sun and Fire  Meeting

Sorry that it took to long. I had exams, I had to learn and I was simply too lazy at times. Anyway, here you go: Next chapter will come out next week!

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: Sun and Fire - Meeting<strong>

Claire sighed, as she tossed the Hollow, who was stupid enough to attack with nothing more than a little knife, aside. It was an almost rotten creature, with mad, hollow eyes and as she slit its throat she decided that the way to the Undead Church would take longer than she anticipated. Right now, she was in the middle of the town that was built inside the Undead Burg – or rather, what was left of it. It was already past midday and she guessed, that she had not even managed to reach the midway point. Claire fastened her steps, as she entered a building, than she went up a few stairs. Her sword was still in her left hand, as she heard fast running steps behind her. An Hollow dashed towards her, an axe lifted. Claire turned around fully, lifting up her shield with her right. At the same second, the axe hit the shield and she managed to disarm the Undead, because the axe kept stuck in her shield. Her sword cut through the Undead's body and it fell to ground.

"Damn.", she exclaimed, as she could not get the axe out from the shield. Still cursing, she let her shield fall and hoped silently, that she would either find a new one or that no archers were positioned on the way to the Church. Her hopes were ultimately crushed as she stepped out of the house, standing on a giant wall. Only metres from here, there sat a giant, red drake that did not seemed to be bothered by the Undead. Thin, but still great wings covered its body like a veil. The skin on it was thin enough to let the blood vessels shine through. Yellow fangs and claws were displayed as it moved, the scales rustling like armour. Claire was frozen to the spot. Very slowly, she stepped back, hoping that the dragon would not take note in her being here. The dragon lifted its head. She stumbled across her feet, as she tried hastily to get back into the house. She landed with a loud bang at the stone floor and the last thing she saw, was the dragon spreading its fire red wings and jumping up into the skies. Even after the dragon had gone airborne, she trembled. After a few minutes she stood up again and made her way up again. Without a shield she suddenly felt vulnerable, frightened. Carefully walking along the passageway, she kept her guard up, even without a shield. There were no Undeads to be seen, so she slowly lowered her guard, and made her way up again. Soon after her almost barbecue with the drake, she reached a tower with broken and used weapons lying on the ground amid corpses. Claire grimaced and bowed down, to loot the bodies in the hope of finding something practical. She found a bit of Humanity, which she gathered in a small pocket, as well as souls, which looked like water, only less fluid. To her dismay she did not found a shield or a better sword, but she found a crossbow and a few arrows, which she took and loaded. It may proved useful later on, so she kept it at her belt. Claire went out, only to barely dodge a fire bomb thrown at her. Claire sighed, sheathed her sword and taking aim with her new crossbow. The bolt hit one Undead, as it was lifting his hand to another throw, but the Fire Bomb felt down and exploded shortly after. Claire sighed, than walking across a small bridge, leading her to a former house. Its inhabitants were long since gone, but three Undead remained and attacked her at once. Claire let a Fire Ball ascend and threw it at the first one, than taking another one out with a slash to the throat. The third however, carried an iron shield and she flashed a short grin, as she first kicked the shield, than beheaded its user. Carefully she removed the shield and closed the leather straps around her wrist. It was heavier than the shield she picked up at the Asylum, but she hoped that she would get used to it quickly. Carefully trying the door in one corner, she found it locked, so she tried the other door. The door, braving the elements for a very long time, more or less crumbled as she touched it. She sighed again. There was no way she would make it even to the Church by nightfall – or to a relatively safe place. The warrior back at Firelink Shrine had been right – it had been a very bad idea to go even near the Burg. Taking a turn and heading up stairs, she encountered a few Hollows, who threw themselves at Claire. She was not in a very good mood – rather the reverse. She lifted up her hand and threw a fire orb at her enemies, this time bigger than every time before. "That tends to happen if I have a foul mood.", she told the remains. "Bad time attacking me, I guess." Another staircase later, she encountered a few more Undead, but those perished fast. Below her, she caught sight of a black armour, shining deep black, like no light would reach it. Claire breathed in and got closer to her enemy. The armour moved, took its black, giant sword and closed in. Fire lit in her palm, as she summoned her flames to defend herself. The armoured knight closed in and slammed his sword in her shield. She staggered backwards, overwhelmed by the sheer power of the knight. In an attempt of despair she threw her flames at her opponent, but he brushed that of like nothing. "Oh, crap.", she hissed, seeing that the armour was stronger than she thought. It closed in again. Claire lifted her sword and shield, awaiting the next attack. The knight came closer and she tried to inflict wounds upon it, but nothing she did, seemed to work against her enemy. She retreated, until she felt the stone of the wall, that separated her from the abyss. A quick look over her shoulder reassured her that, if she would fall, not even her Undead curse would help her. Not in a thousand years. If she ended up down there, the only thing left would be a pile of meat, roughly in the shape of an human. Looking back at the knight, she did not know what death would be quicker or more painless. The knight would have to cut her into pieces for her to die, while the fall would take a long time. Time to curse herself over her arrogance to attack the black knight.

"Over here!"

She locked into the direction, where the shout came from. A knight waved at her. "Get over here, quick!"

A quick glance towards her enemy, than she started running. The knight stood on top of a long staircase, embedded into the stone of a cliff. The black knight hit the stone, as she narrowly escaped the hit. Claire's legs felt like rubber, as she arrived at the top of the staircase. The knight grabbed her arm, than unsheathed his sword.

"Stay behind me."

Claire did not need any more encouragement. She backed down, until her back hit the wall of the tower. Nervously she starred at the knight, who stood there. He was wearing heavy, grey armour, plates and chainmails. On his head was a helmet, that covered his neck and face. A blood red feather was perched upon it. He wore a white surcoat over his armour and a broad leather belt. Only now she saw the trap. A giant stone ball was held back by ropes, in the direction of the stairs. The knight moved, slashing the ropes in one movement. The boulder rolled down, and Claire could not see it, but was sure of the fact, that the Black Knight got crushed beneath the boulder. The knight sheathed its sword, than turned around. Now she saw the surcoat from the front. A sun was pictured on it, gold and red shone from it.

"That was close." The Knight said cheerfully, than gave a short bow. "My name is Knight Solaire of Astora. Nice to meet you."

"I am Claire of the Great Swamps, a Pyromancer. It is nice to meet you as well and thank you sincerely for the help."

"A knight's duty."

Claire took a deep breath. "What was that... thing?"

"Did you never heard of the Knights of Lord Gwyn?" Solaire asked amused, than settled beside her.

"That was a _knight of Lord Gwyn_?"

"So some say."

"I heard, that the Knights wore silver and gold armour, not black."

"Oh they did. But it seems that you missed a part of the story. Some died in the first flame, they burned and their armour turned black as coal. You can go down and take a look – they are hollow. But not in the usual _undead _kind of way. There is armour and nothing more."

"I see."

"What are you doing here?"

"I am heading towards the Church to ring one of the Bells of Awakening. I promised it a Knight back at the Asylum to do it. His name was Oscar of Astora, you may know him."

"No, I do not. But there are a few reasons to it. First, Astora has more than a few knights at its command and I do not know all. Since I went undead, others might have joined. And..." Solaire paused. "It is hard to believe... but time in Lordran is different from everywhere else. It wavers, the flow of time itself is convoluted. Heroes and sages from all ages may meet. One day in Lordran can be a year or more in the outside world."

"How is this possible?"

"I do not know either. But I feel, that our meeting here was not a coincidence. Maybe the Lord of Sunlight himself fated us to meet. I am here to seek my very own sun. You are here to ring the Bells of Awakening. How about join forces for a bit?"

"Why not?" Claire gave a faint smile. "But I must warn you: It seems, the last two knights who helped me, had a worser fate forced upon them."

"I will make sure, to keep on living as an Undead. Shall we proceed then?"

"Yes."

Solaire stood up, holding out his hand to her. Claire grabbed it and stood up with his help. Both headed up to the top of the tower in silence. As they finally stood on top of the wall, Claire breathed in. Solaire pointed up. "There are Hollows up there." He explained.

"I will head up and kill them."

"Do not get yourself killed."

"Thank you for the advice."

Claire sheathed her sword, than carefully started to climb the ladder. She was trying avoiding to make any noise so the Hollows would not hear her coming, and for a change, she actually succeeded. The Hollows stood with the back to her, so she kept on holding the ladder with her right, drawing her sword quietly with the other. A swift thrust to the Hollows legs nearer to her, made it unable to stand and it fell down. Claire stood up quickly and kicked the Hollow's shield aside, before impaling him with her sword. Then, after ending the life of the other Hollow, she stepped up to the ledge.

"Solaire, I am finished up here."

"Good, come down."

Claire had just sheathed her sword, so she could better climb down, as something roared. Looking up, she saw a red monster walking towards them. It looked a bit like a bull, but it was walking on two legs, carrying a big axe in its hands.

"Solaire!" Claire cried out as a warning.

"No worries. I will be fine. Listen: Jump down, when the Demon is below you. Ram its sword in its neck; I will lure him to you."

"Are you crazy?"

"A bit."

Claire groaned. Her companion seemed to not understand the danger he was in. One hit with the axe and both of them would be turned into a formless piece of meat. While she thought that, she draw her sword, leaning over the edge to watch Solaire taunting the Demon with quick hits and retreating more and more to the tower. She could not avoid admiring his fighting style, he may seemed like a fool – sometimes - but his sword play hinted at his true strength and abilities.

"Claire, now!"

Claire sighed and jumped, sword in both hands. The sword dig into the flesh of the stinking creature. Its reddish fur was drenched with blood and rotting flesh. She could not help but flinching, before she jumped of its back. The axe only missed her by inches and from the other side Solaire stepped closer, before slicing the sinews of the left arm of the demon. Again it roared, this time in agony and anger, fuelled by pain. Claire avoided the attack, sheathed her sword and hold up her pyromancy hand. Flames danced in her opened palm, as she started throwing fire balls, careful not to hit Solaire by accident. The stench of burning flesh and hair was as pungent as ever, so she tried not to breath to much. Solaire in contrast, seemed not to be affected by the smell or he was simply ignoring it, since he did not stop cutting off the sinew in arms, legs and even those of the demon's tail. Barely moving, the demon roared again, as Solaire stabbed him this time into the head. Blood stained his sword, as he sliced through the head. It sunk towards the ground, still breathing, so Claire stepped up lifting her sword, so she could deliver the final blow.

"Stay away!" Solaire yelled at her. Claire freezed while moving, giving the knight a curious look. Than the demon moved its head, slamming against her, burying her beneath its body. Claire screamed, as she felt her ribs break and at least one stabbed her lunge. Cursing, Solaire stabbed it again, then, using a talisman around his right hand, he summoned something, that looked like a spear made of lightning. The spear hit the demon, which screamed one last time, than went limp. Solaire sheathed his sword, than grabbed her beneath her arms.

"Fool, what did you think you are doing." He scolded, than started to move her. The demon was heavy, but Solaire managed to get her body out from beneath the demon. She coughed and her mouth filled itself with blood. Solaire lifted her up, laying one of her arms around his shoulders.

"A bit further up is a safer place." He told her. "Just a bit more."

Claire limped and winced in pain, as Solaire half carried, half dragged her to the next tower. The sun, already setting, shone deeply red on the Undead Burg, like it would be aware of the bloodshed that was caused. The moon was already there, a full moon, shining like silver. As soon as they reached the tower, Solaire helped her sitting down, than he started to remove her clothes. Wearily, she tried pushed his hands away, but she was too exhausted and in too much pain than to do much more. Solaire examined the wounds, than letting his talisman touch her ribcage. She hissed in pain, as his healing miracle started to work and she flinched a bit.

"Finished." The knight said, than let go of her.

Claire breathed in deeply, than covered herself up with her torn shirt.

"Thank you." She murmured. Then, searching for her flask, she opened her pockets, hoping that it would not be broken. Solaire held out his own flask and she carefully took the small bottle, before taking a sip.

"Fine again?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you again."

Solaire settled down beside her, before getting a bit of food out of his pockets.

"Eat something."

"Why should I eat something when I am dead?"

"Eating slows down the process of becoming hollow. The Estus aswell, even better, but you should use it wisely, not in a rush. We do not need to eat, yes. But it is better if we eat – at least a bit"

"Thank you." Claire took a piece of bread, the half of an onion and an apple. Solaire took his helmet of, resting against the walls and started eating. His brownish red hair felt down wavy to his cheekbones, his deep blue eyes gazing of dreamily. Claire stopped looking at him and started eating her meal. It was not as bad as it looked, and she felt her strength return. After that both of them sat a long time silently side by side, before Solaire stood up.

"I saw you fighting the Black Knight. Am I right, if I say that you had no real sword training prior coming to Lordran?"

"Does killing Hollows in the Asylum count?"

"No."

"Then no. My weapon of choice was an axe, but I lost it and found this sword instead."

"I see. Would you like to train a bit?"

"What?"

"I could train you. Show you a few tricks. It would be bad, if you get yourself killed before you have rung the Bells of Awakening, wouldn't it?"

"Well... yes. But why do you want to aid me?"

"Easy: I am a curious man. What will happen? The lore differs a lot – no one knows what would happen. And, as a knight I am obliged to help people in need."

"Just because of that?"

"I made an oath. I do not need any more reason."

"You are strange." Claire shock her head, than stood up. "But fine, I will accept your offer."

"Good, draw your sword." Solaire stood up as well, while Claire drew her sword. "If you draw a sword, then you need to be ready to use. Lift it up, spread your legs and bend your knees a bit."

Claire did as he told her. It felt awkward, but Solaire nodded satisfied.

"One more thing: Never turn your back at your opponent. And please, make sure that your opponent can not move anymore, if you move in to kill. Or be more cautious, if you kill your opponents."

Claire felt heat rushing to her cheeks. "Sure.", she murmured.

"Good. Then get ready." Solaire as well drew his sword, than he took place in front of her. Suddenly, he struked at her from the left and she barely managed to get her sword between her and his strike. She had not even time to prepare for another attack, as he hit her with his sword again. Again, both swords clashed and Claire staggered back. Now she started to understand, why he told her not to worry while he lured the demon in their trap. He sure was not weak and as the incident with the bolder told her, he was as sharp as his sword. A noise from her side diverted her focus from the knight and she gave a quick glance to the side. In the same instant, a sword hit – luckily not with the sharp edge – he left shoulder. Claire hissed and let go of her sword.

"Do not divert your attention from me." Solaire warned. "Do only focus on your opponent. Next time you do something as stupid as that, you might lose your head."

"And that noise?"

"I kicked a stone against the wall to test you."

"How nice." She muttered, and then she picked up the sword and attacked the knight head on. He parried with ease and returned the favour. The swords were clashing and Claire tried to stay focused. It was hard to make anything out at all, the darkness of night hampered her sight while Solaire always striked at the right time and the right points as it would be broad daylight. They fighted till the moon stood high at the sky. Claire felt tired, as she slumped at the wall of the tower. It was exhausting. As Solaire sat down beside her, she could feel – not without satisfaction – that he, too, breathed heavily.

"For a beginner you are not bad." He acknowledged.

"Thank you."

"Were you used to fighting?"

"Well, yes. A pyromancer, especially from the Great Swamps, needs to learn fighting. Especially clerics or some sorcerers from Vinheim are not too fond of pyromancers and so I learned using an axe not just for hacking wood."

"I never did understand the dispute between sorcery and pyromancy. Both of them are magic, so what is the big deal?"

"My teacher once said, that pyromancy is, in contrary to sorcery, more instinct based. A pyromancy flame is a part of the soul of the pyromancer itself and you can even chose to link yourself with someone else by moulding your flames with someone else or giving a bit of it to someone else."

"And sorcery?"

"I am not sure, if this is the right way of describing it, but it is more intellectual, more focused, less free. As far as I know, a sorcerer need years to accomplish spells and to take control of his or her power. A pyromancer is able to do the same with few training. Actually, the most time you spend as a pyromancer's apprentice is to know your own limits."

"Interesting..."

"What about you? What is this sun you seek?"

"Just a metaphor. What do you see, if you look at the sun, Claire? Just a ball of fire, enlightening our world?"

"Well, yes."

Solaire chuckled sadly. "I forgot I am speaking with a pyromancer. I see the sun as a magnificent father, shining brightly upon this dark world."

"You did not answer my question."

"I did not?"

"Please do not poke fun on me."

"I did not."

The time passed in silence. Both Undead did not talk, until Solaire broke the silence.

"How did you end up as an Undead?"

"Why are you asking that?"

"The Darksign activates and become shown, as the accursed dies the first time. When did it activate? Mine was activated, as I went into battle and got killed. Shortly after, I awoke and ended up crabwise at Lordran. What is your story?"

"I was out teaching pyromancy to earn a living for my younger brother and me. Fanatical clerics falsely assaulted me for being a heretic in a town so I left to avoid conflicts. But they pursued me and attacked. I managed to kill a few, but one of them managed to kill me. As I awoke, I was branded with the Darksign. Since I did not want to go to the Asylum, I tried heading back to my brother to at least bid him farewell. A knight named Duncan of the Grey Oath catched me before I reached the Great Swamps, but he allowed me to visit my brother a last time. But as I arrived at the hut, my brother had gone hollow and killed Duncan. In self-defence, I needed to kill him and a group of knights and took me to the Undead Asylum."

"Your brother went Hollow?"

"Yes. Usually, I left for sometimes half a year. This time, it was only two months, but..." Claire sighed. "It was enough time to turn undead and then hollow."

"I understand. My condolences."

"At the Asylum, the knight I told you about threw down a corpse with a key on it down, so I was able to free myself. After that, I met up with him, but he was severly injured due to the Asylum Demon, the guardian of this place. He passed his last will on to me and I found my flame, and the sword. After that I killed the Demon and was carried by a giant crow to the Firelink Shrine. From there I went towards the Chruch and met you."

"I see. And what is your motivation to fulfil the promise you gave the knight?"

"Is making a promise not enough as a motivation?"

"It is, yes. But why do you want to fulfil that promise, to let this be your motivation? I made an oath as a knight of Astora – but what about you?"

"I was teached, that keeping a promise is almost holy, especially if it is made to someone who is dying."

"Is it guilt?"

"What are you asking?"

"Did someone died around you and you were not able to keep your promise?"

"Shut up!"

"I assume this means 'yes'. Who was it?"

Claire was silence. Then, clutching her fists she murmured: "My parents."

"What did you promise them?"

"That I... I... would be taking care of Sven... my brother."

"You are feeling guilty because of that?"

"How could I not? He was my brother I promised to protect."

"You know, you could not have done anything to save him."

"That does not matter. I was responsible for him, so there is no way I could not blame myself for it. My secound reason is, that I came to atone for this. I could not protect anyone, so it is fine if I ring the Bells of Awakening and suffer even more!"

"So this is it? These are the reasons?"

"What of it? You just helped me because of your oath."

"I did, yes. But I did it as well, because I did wanted to help you. I advise you to find a reason to survive in Lordran, as fast possible."

"Thank you for the advice."

"No need to be sarcastic. I will teach you tomorrow a bit of sword fighting, so you can at least survive until you find a reason."

"Whatever."

Silence fell again, only disturbed by the occasional screams and moans of the Undead in the City.

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><p>Like I said at the top: Chapter 4 will come out next week. Actually, chapter 3 and 4 were supposed to be one chapter... But it got definitely too long. See you!<p> 


	5. Chap 4: Sun and FireBattle on the Roof

Where the heck has time been? I've been kind of busy the last two weeks, so Chapter 4 is going to be out now. The will be no chapter next week - I will be in the middle of nowhere in France without internet, so I am not able to upload! But I will write as much as I can so look forward to it!

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><p><strong>Chapter 4: Sun and Fire – Battle on the Roof<strong>

The next day, clear and bright, was a hard day for Claire. From dawn to dusk Solaire and she trained. He taught her, how to properly defend herself with a shield and showed her, how to land a surprise attack on enemies as well countering. By nightfall, Claire was covered in small cuts and bruises from the training. They had barely made a break during the day so she was exhausted. Solaire, too, but he still was in better shape than her, thanks to his heavy armour and his stamina. Claire hissed in pain, as she sat down. She took her Estus Flask and took a small sip of the orange liquid, while Solaire came in. "You were planning heading over to the Church via the bridge, correct?" he asked.

"Yes, why are you asking?"

"There is a drake perched on the bridge."

"What?"

"Yes. Even if you leave out the old legends of the deities fighting the dragons, it would be suicide to go over the bridge."

"Is there any way of fighting it?"

"Let me think... Fighting a magical, fire breathing, high intelligent and armour plated killing machine? No thanks, I pass. It is suicide to even think of fighting it."

"But I have to go to the church. And we are dead anyway – dying another time will not hurt much."

Solaire was silent for a bit. "All right, it is suicide, but... I think I have an idea."

"What idea?"

"You will not like it."

"Tell me."

"I was right. You are crazy."

Claire looked at the bridge. The "killing machine" sat on top of a tower, ready to turn everything that was stupid enough to cross the bridge into an pile of smoking ashes.

"I cannot think of another way. There would be a few – but they take you through areas, where a drake would be the lesser evil."

"Oh. Great. Meaning, either I end up as a barbecue for a drake or I am getting eaten by something else."

"Basically, yes. Ready?"

"Are you?"

"I take this as a yes. Remember, you will run, if I got its attention. You will not turn back, you will go straight through and wait for me at the gate."

"And what will happen, if you get turned to ashes?"

"Leave that to me. Just run, all right?"

"I am thrilled."

"Let us begin."

Solaire and she stepped on the bridge. The dragon did not take notice yet, but Claire felt like served on a plate. Between the dragon and her there was nowhere to hide, except for a stairway in the middle of it. But Claire did not think that this would protect her from the dragon. Solaire and she were walking slowly, ready to start running any moment. They were at the stairs, as the dragon began to move. Its head rose and it looked at the two Undeads.

"Change of plans." hissed Solaire. "Down the stairs and hope, that the staircase is too small for its head."

Both he and Claire managed to get down, as the dragon breathed fire. Fire engulfed the top of the staircase. Than the drake jumped down and started sniffing. Its head did luckily not fit through, so it gave up and headed back. Solaire quickly went up, but stayed covered, so he could quickly jump down again, if the need would arise.

"And?"

"Still there. But if we are quick, we could escape its reach. Do you have a bow?"

"No, you?"

"No, but I have my miracles. If I use these..."

"We could make it through?"

"I need time. If I am to slow, I will end up as dinner."

"At least try."

"I cannot promise anything. Stay ready."

Solaire started casting his miracle. Golden light filled his palms, while he concentrated the energy in his hands. The dragon did not take notice of it, until it got hit in the head with the spear-shaped miracle. Claire and Solaire started running, as the furious drake landed on the bridge, trying to bit them into half. Claire's legs, tired of the training of a whole day, nearly gave way as she passed the gate. Solaire, slower in his armour, was still at the bridge, while the dragon was behind him, ready to burn him. Claire lifted up her pyromancy hand, hoping to create a distraction for the dragon. Solaire fastened his steps, while Claire threw a fireball into the air. It exploded, the dragon spread its wings and jumped into the air, looking for the source of the sudden fire blaze. Solaire reached the gate, breathing heavily, but he grabbed the lever to close the gate behind them. Claire helped him moving it and creaking and rattling the gate closed itself.

"That was a close call." Solaire said, taking off his helmet and wiping his forehead. "If you would not have thrown the fire ball into the air I would be gone for good."

Claire blushed. "We are even then."

"Yes, but I will still accompany you a bit. I am looking forward to the first bell of Awakening."

"You are?"

"Yes indeed."

"Where are we anyway?"

"In the central burg, at a place called Sunlight Altar. From there, we just need to go up the stairs and then we are at the church. The Burg however is filled with Hollows and it will not be easy to get to the church. We should rest for the time being. We are safe here."

"You are good informed."

"I have been here for quite a while. I wandered Lordran, searching everywhere for my sun." Solaire sounded almost dreamily.

Claire shocked her head, before sitting down beside a broken statue. From outside she heard the angry dragon roaring, before it flew off, as she could see through one of the windows.

"Seems like it is gone."

"Yes, but I will still not be to sure of it. Drakes and Dragons have a certain area, they hunt in – and this is its hunting area. It will come back surely."

"How do you come to know all of this? You saved me from a Black Knight with a trap, you teached me how to fight and you helped me getting across a bridge with a drake perched upon it."

Solaire shrugged its shoulders. "Like I said, I got around in Lordran. Experience I guess."

Claire sighed.

"By the way, you should change your clothes. They may be light, but they do not protect you enough. The Bell of Awakening is guarded by gargoyles, according to some rumours. You should get a light armour before you fight against them."

"And where do I get an armour?"

"In the Undead Parish lives a blacksmith at the border to Dark Root Gardens. If we ask him, he will surely aid you. Even a chain mail will serve its purpose."

"I have no money."

"Do you have gathered souls?"

"Souls?"

"Yes, souls. There are three ways of slowing down the progress of hollowing: Eating, Humanity or souls. Because of that, souls have more or less became a currency here in Lordran. If you have some to give the blacksmith, you can buy things from him. You can also use it to regain your strength or raising your senses or ability to cast spells."

"I did find some, but I do not know, if they would be enough."

"Do not worry, we will find a way. But for now, we should rest. We can care about the rest of the way tomorrow."

Claire stepped out of the small hall. A broken statue stood at top of a staircase, once it would have been twice as tall as herself, but now rendered to shards and ruins. The sunlight, almost fading, reached the altar, illuminating the scene in a soft red. Curious, Claire stepped closer to the broken statue, eyeing it.

"I heard that this altar was once consecrated to Lord Gwyn's first born." Solaire explained, as he followed her. "After his fall, the shrine was destroyed, some say by Lord Gwyn himself."

"I heard fragments of the story from my parents, but I did never heard the reason, the Firstborn was exiled in the first place."

"Me neither. Some say, he defied his father and was exiled, some say he died to protect his warriors, some say he was branded by the dark sign by his enemies. There are a lot of stories about his fall."

"I wonder why?"

"Yes – everything that carried his name was destroyed or forgotten. A sad story, is it not?"

Claire silently nodded. "Like you said, we should rest." she said.

"Yes, but not out here. The drake will come back – we only do not know when."

Inside the small hall, they settled at the wall farthest away from all tree entrances – the one leading out to the bridge, the one with the statue and the one leading to the Undead Church – and tried to make themselves comfortable. Rubbish, broken stone and earth made it however not easy, to find a spot where they could sit. They shared a bit of food and then sat in silent, watching their surroundings. Claire remembered with sorrow her brother and her parents. She remembered the good days, where it seemed they would never end, her parent's death at the hand of the plague, the death of her brother and his appearance as a hollow. Tears started to flow, as she longed for the warm days at the Swamp, travelling through it and exploring everything together with Sven, the security she felt when she returned home, greeted by her parents... All was gone. Gone like she. She could never return to her home and to her past, she was gone, simply gone, cut of everything she knew. Burying her face in her hands, she silently wept, until Solaire laid his arm around her. She clung to him like a lost child, waiting for her parents to return. His surcoat soaked up her tears, while he gently caressed her back. "Calm down... stop crying..."

Claire just clutched his surcoat tighter, burying her face in it, while she was trembling. Solaire breathed in slowly and then hugged her. He patiently waited for her to calm down, then pushed her away very gently. "All right again?" he asked.

Claire nodded, tears were still glistening in her eyes. "I apologize. I think I overreacted a bit." murmured she. It was embarrassing, to lose herself like in front of somebody else she did barely know. Wiping away her tears, she looked away.

"You know, it is not a shame to cry. Especially not, if you are an Undead, away from your home and had to kill your own brother, not to mention the people who turned Hollow you met."

"I am still embarrassed. I usually have more control over me."

"It is also fine to lose control at times. You should just win control again if you need it."

Claire was silent, while Solaire continued to softly stroking her back. They did not speak, until the dark blue of the night sky faded to a pale grey of a new morning.

Claire looked up to the church. It was a monumental building, tall, almost a cathedral. Build from light brown stone, it stood at the end of a rather big street. The sun lit the coloured glass and all in all, it was a beautiful day, a beautiful church and a beautiful street – if it would not be for the Undead, the burning pile of the corpses and the giant armoured tusk. "Any idea how we get by that giant boar?" she asked Solaire.

"We could smoke it out with your pyromancy. Fire works pretty well on almost anything in Lordran."

"Good. Then you take on the soldiers, I presume?"

"Yes. They are mere Hollows – it will not be a hard fight. Be careful, that you do not get hit by the boar. It will make you feel like you fell down a cliff, I am sure of it."

"Is it just me or does everything in whole Lordran wants to kill me?"

"Nah, they do not. Everything just wants to kill everything."

"How very reassuring."

"Let us go or else we will spent another night with a raging drake as neighbour."

Claire lifted up her pyromancy hand, while she took aim at the tusk. She could saw it moving towards her, eyeing her cautiously, before starting dashing towards her. She quickly threw her fire ball, than quickly moved aside. It crashed into the stone walls, before it turned around. By that time, Claire had a second fire ball ready and the boar howled in agony, before it tried to ram Claire again. With every fire ball it became weaker, until it collapsed to the ground. Claire cautiously drew her sword, went nearer to it and cut its throat as an act of mercy. The boar shuddered once more, before falling limp to the ground.

Claire sighed and quickly moved towards the place, where Solaire was cutting down his enemies. She took out one, that sneaked up on his back, then tried to kick down the shield of a spear wielder. The hollow dodged and slit upon her left arm. She cringed in pain, than killed it with a swift cut through its neck. Solaire beckoned her over and she followed the knight quickly. Together they went to the Church, as they saw an Undead. This one was being smarter than the other hollows – it tried to pull a lever, to let the gate crush down and forcing Claire and Solaire to make a detour. Claire cursed and started running. There was no way she would make a detour. She had a promise to keep and an obligation to fulfil.

Solaire, who was less quickly than her because of his armour, shouted to her – she could her it, but could not hear his words. Claire managed to get through the gate before it crashed down and killed the hollow for good. Turning around, she saw that Solaire was now separated from her by the gate.

"Are you insane?" he snarled. "If you want to die that badly, pull the lever and I will do you the favour."

"I do not want to die I just wanted to end this quickly."

"Yes sure. You wanted to end it quickly in more than one way. I told you to be careful."

"I was careful, or do you see an enemy around me?"

"Behind you!"

"I will not fall for this stupid, old trick..."

Claire was grabbed by Solaire through the holes in the gate and forced aside. A sword hit the gate only inches apart from her body. Claire turned around, facing a hollow knight with a rapier in his hand. The Knight, protected by a small round shield lifted his sword again and pointed it at Claire, while he started moving around her. A fire started burning in her pyromancy hand, and she tried to get more space between her and her opponent.

"Pull the lever, Claire. Fast. This is no opponent for you." Solaire warned.

Claire ignored him.

"Do not ignore me. I am serious! What will become of your promise if you die now?"

"I will not die."

"Believe what you want, but this is an opponent to strong for you."

"Be quiet."

"I will not be quiet. Pull the lever, so that I can at least save your sorry life."

The hollow knight stroke. Claire managed to evade the attack, throwing a fire ball at the same time. It hit the hollow in its abdomen and it stumbled back. Claire quickly drew her sword and impaled the hollow. It was not dead, instead it grabbed her sword arm and launched a desperate attack at her head. Claire moved her head out of the way at the rapier scratched at her cheek, leaving a red line on it. Blood started to flow, while she hit the hollow with her shield and lifted up her sword to slash the neck of the knight. At the same moment, her sword crushed the Hollow's head; his rapier slashed her hip, this time deeper as the one on her cheek. Claire pulled at her sword, than let it fell down, as she could not get it out and hissed in pain. The cut at her hip hurt like hell and she moved the lever not without trouble.

"I told you." Solaire hissed.

"I did not die."

"Maybe, but just with luck. You are not a saint, not a god and definitely not invulnerable."

"I am fine."

"Sure you are. You just got almost killed."

Claire silently hold her hip, before moving on. Solaire stopped her by grabbing her shoulder.

"Listen up, I am sorry if I did sound to harsh. You just made me worried."

Claire hesitated.

"Damn, girl, it was dangerous. Please wait until I at least healed you wounds."

Claire sighed. "How am I supposed to survive on my own here?" she asked.

"Why are you asking that?" he said surprised.

"Are you always there if I need you? Or someone else? Who guarantees me, that the next time I meet you, you are still you and not have gone hollow?"

"Why are you worried about that?"

"I left my brother alone for two months and he went hollow in this time. And neither you or me knows what would happen to us tomorrow."

"Yes, we do not know. So you do not want me to help you, just because you can not see into the future? Just because no one will know what would happen tomorrow?"

"Yes! I am too weak to be on my own, I know so much! But I do not want to force others to help me. And I do not want to rely on others! What is so wrong with that wish?"

"Nothing is wrong. You are weak as you said. But you want to become stronger. But there is no use to feel sorry for yourself, you hopefully know that."

"I do not feel sorry for myself!"

"You do. And you are sulking. You do not do this for atonement. You do it for yourself. You do it to run away from your fears!"

"Stop this!"

"I will not. If you want to get stronger, than stand on your own feet. And if you feel that your burden is to much to bear, then simply rely on someone you can trust, so you can get stronger!"

"Easily said. And if there is no one? No one to trust, no one to rely one?"

"There will be always someone. Trust me."

"I will not believe this, until I experienced it myself." Claire turned around, than started to walk up to the church.

"Where are you going? Without a weapon especially?"

Claire stopped and turned around. "And where should I get a new weapon? My own is stuck in a skull."

"Take the sword of the knight. It is not in a bad shape, even though you will need to repair it eventually."

"Oh, great. And where should I get the souls or the money to repair it."

"From your fallen enemies of course."

"Anyway, are we going to ring the bell or not?"

"What, now? You are wounded, you in dire need of an armour and you want to beat up a fire breathing gargoyle?"

"I am used to getting burned."

"Are you used to get eaten as well?"

"No, but I can manage it. You can stay down here if you do not want to fight."

"That is not the matter. You should rest before you fight it, that is all."

"The sooner I ring the bell, the sooner I can rest."

"And again you are running."

"I am not."

"Fine, I am going to accompany you. To make sure that you survive, so I can teach you a few lessons afterwards."

"Go ahead and try."

Solaire sighed and followed her to the Church.

At the roof it was quiet. Only the wind was to be heard, as Claire jumped down from the small entrance. The bell tower stood in front of them, no enemy was to be seen. Claire looked at Solaire triumphantly.

"Where is the gargoyle?"

"It was just a rumour. Maybe someone was so nice and killed it already."

"I doubt that there was a gargoyle around here in the first place."

Claire looked up, as she heard a rustling of wings. The gargoyle landed in front of both Undead and lifted its axe.

Claire sighed. "All right, I take it back."

She drew her new sword, while Solaire stayed back to summon his lightning spears. The gargoyle breathed fire, but it did not reach Claire, who did stood now behind it and started hitting it with her rapier. There was almost now damage because of the thick skin. Claire lifted her pyromancy hand, than a small fire ball at it. A bit coom was all traces it left so she backed off. Solaire's lightning spear caused more damage and as it backed off, Claire cut off its tail. The roars of the gargoyle seemed to shock the church to the core.

"Claire watch out! There is a second one!"

Claire turned around, only to see one more gargoyle landing with ha heavy thud on the roof. Like its brethren, it looked like a small dragon, with greenish wings and holding a shield and an axe. Claire almost slipped on the shingles, as she started running. The gargoyle jumped into the air, than tried to hit her with his axe. The roof broke under the impact of the hit and Claire tripped and fell down. The next hit she dodged by rolling away, unfortunately she almost fell down from the roof. Only barely she could hold on to the brazen water spout. Solaire killed the first one with a stroke off his sword to its neck, than throwing a lightning spear to the other one, so it withdraw for a few seconds from the fight. As soon as the gargoyle landed on the other side of the roof, Solaire dashed over to Claire and grabbed her wrist. He managed to lift her up on the roof again. Before Claire could thank him, the other gargoyle started breathing fire. Hot flames burned the shingles, and Claire lifted her hands to protect herself from the heat of the flames. Then she and Solaire jumped aside, so the halberd did not hit them. Claire tried again to hit through the scales, but to no avail. Solaire started throwing his sunlight spears, who had a slightly better effect on the gargoyle. Claire lifted her sword, than stabbed it through the scales at the neck. Blood flew out, the gargoyle's shield hit her. Claire jumped back, than dodged the next strike. Suddenly she found herself in the front of the gargoyle, he let down his guard to attack her with the halberd and she jumped down and stabbed it into its chest. The gargoyle shuddered, than both halberd and shield fell down. She must have hit the heart, because the gargoyle slumped against the roof. It quivered, before it fell limp and moveless. Claire managed this time to get her sword out of the chest and wiped it clean, before sheathing it again.

"Good luck you had there." Solaire said, before sheathing his own sword. "That was a close one."

"Yes.", Claire murmured, looking away. She was angry at herself that she had to be saved by Solaire once more.

"The bell is in the tower. Let us hurry."

Claire quietly followed Solaire. She felt sick, as she looked at the blood on her hands. She remembered the countless Undead, the Demon in the Asylum, the Demon at the walls and the gargoyles. It was not the killing act, but rather its aftermath.

She had enjoyed killing all of them, with no exception.

The bell was high up, made from bronze and surprisingly plain. Claire would have thought of a large golden bell, with beautiful ornaments on it, but not this. From here, she could see the Fire Link Shrine, the Undead Burg and a fortress in the forest. Nothing she saw, what would be a hint to the next bell and her heart sunk.

"Before I forget it..." Claire looked up to Solaire as he spoke. "I think a lesson is due."

"Oh, yes..."Claire murmured.

"Did you remember what I said in front of the Church gates?"

"What of it?"

"The part, in which I said that there would be always someone to help and support you."

"Oh, that one."

"You see, I was right with it."

Claire looked at him.

"I helped you, did I not? As you needed help, I was there and pulled you back up."

Claire smiled. "I guess you are right."

"Ring the bell, Claire, I think you deserve it."

Claire turned around and pulled the lever. As soon as she let go, the bell started ringing. It sounded deep, loud, melodious, promising as well as threatening.

"The next thing to do is to ring the Bell in Blighttown." Solaire said. "Blighttown is swamp, deep beneath the Undead Burg. You will need to enter it through the sewers in the depths and then make your way down to the bottom level. I can aid you in the depths, but not in Blighttown itself. I do not know where the bell is located exactly, so you need to rely on your luck, to find someone who does."

"Maybe there will be one waiting for me." Claire smiled.

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><p>I almost wrote that instead of a part of Claire's and Solaire's conservation on everything killing everything - almost:<p>

Claire: Isn't it just me but is everything trying to kill me?

Solaire: Why do you think that?

Claire: Tell me one thing that did'nt try to kill me.

Solaire: Ehm… The grass?

Yeah, I thought it would be to much out of character so I didn't. I still thought it was funny but it got abandonded for the posted version. By the way, in future I will include bits that didn't made it into the story. Something like Deleted scenes on a DVD I guess?


	6. Chapter 5: Prelude of the Terror

Next chapter, Chapter 6 might take some while though. I guess, I'll need around two more weeks to finish it.

I guess.

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><p><strong>Chapter 5: Prelude of the Terror<strong>

Solaire departed after hugging her. He said that he had something to take care of, but would try to rejoin her in the depths. Claire, curious as she was, decided to explore the church. There was nothing much to be found, in the main building, so she headed up the stairs to a small secluded area. She had found a few keys on the way and she was trying them out at every door she encountered. A few opened, a few did not. Going up a stair she suddenly heard someone calling.

"Still human, are you?" It sounded tinny and she looked up.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I am Knight Lautrec of Carim." Claire now stood in front of a cell. Iron bars separated her from the knight, who did not look too pleased about this. "If you are no hollow, then I am in luck. Could you help me? As you can see, right now I am stuck behind barred windows, so I would be glad if you could help me out."

"Of course, wait a second. I will try the keys." Claire tried every key, but none of them unlocked the door.

"I guess, I am not as lucky as I would have liked it."

Claire laid her Pyromancy hand on the lock. "Let me try this a different way."

The knight watched carefully, as she started to melting the iron. Hot metal flew down, until the door was open. Lautrec was wearing a golden armour, carrying two swords with him. He stood up, stepped carefully out of his cell and bowed slightly. "Thank you, sincerely. I truly appreciate my liberation by you. I promise you a reward, only later. I have to go now, since I have to take care of something."

"Let us meet at Firelink Shrine." Claire suggested.

If she would have not known any better, than the laughter that erupted now would have sounded devilish. "A good idea, indeed."

"I will see you later than."

"Of course you will. But be careful, not to be back stabbed by someone." He went down the stairs. Claire decided for the moment, to ignore the bad feeling she had about him and followed him quickly.

"I will not be back stabbed by anyone." She ensured him, having almost to run to keep pace.

He grunted. "Why are you following me?"

"Do you know how to get back to Firelink Shrine?"

"Yes, I do. But how did you get here, if you do not know the way back?"

"On the way I came I almost got eaten by a drake for dinner."

"Oh, yes, the drake. I almost forgot. But you know that there is an elevator?"

"I heard that it is broken."

"It is easy to repair. Sometimes it gets stuck at the top. You just need to step on it, activate it and then it works again."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, it does. So, what business do you have at Firelink?"

"I need to go to the depths."

"So you are the fool who rang the bell and still believes something will happen?"

"I am sorry, but I promised. That means, I am going to ring the second bell as well."

"You will feel sorry for that."

"What do you mean?"

Lautrec stayed silent. At the ground level of the church, Lautrec showed Claire the elevator, both Undead stepped on it and it worked. Claire felt uncomfortable standing so close to the other shaft, so she moved to the other side quickly, standing only closer to Lautrec. He seemed annoyed, but did said nothing. At the ground level, she quickly got of it before heading down the stairs. She saw the cleric standing at the wall, as well as two knights and a young girl, close to her age. She was on her knees, praying. As soon as the knights laid their eyes on her, they laid hand on her weapons, walking towards her. Lautrec, behind her snorted and jostled the smaller one. "Out of my way, I will not do anything to your _precious _my Lady_._"

The knights let him through, but were still carefully watching him and Claire.

"My Lady?" she asked.

"Yes, these are my guests. We will be departing shortly." Petrus said, nodding to the girl."She is the youngest daughter of the good house of Thorolund. Those young knights are her old schoolmates, Vince and Nico of Thorolund, and now serve as shield and sword to my Lady. But, among us..." He sighed deeply, as he watched them wearily. "I am not sure, what to make of both of them, I am afraid they may be a bad influence... One does not talk at all, the other one seems to be too fond of Milady..." Claire ignored him and walked closer to Reah. One of the knights stepped in her way. His dark brown hair was a mess, while his friend wore a helmet. Both of them carried swords and shields and seemed at least to be experienced warriors.

"What have we here? You look awfully raggedy..."

"Try to look better if you met a lot of Undeads and had no means of washing for the past six months."

"Times are grim: You could at least look sharp. Do not dare meeting M'lady like that – you might scare her off for good!"

"I do not wish to scare her off – I would just like to hear where you are going to head."

"Oh no, we cannot help you. We will not tell you anything. We accompany M'lady on her righteous mission. It may be quite a chore, but I am stuck with her and Nico, too. I cannot abandon her now. The catacombs are not exactly what I would imagine as a good way of spending time, but what can I do?"

"The Catacombs?"

"We hope to achieve our goal there. So back down and leave – or else we will send you to the next world."

"Please, Vince, do not do that." The girl had stood up, turning around. She was small, fragile, but composed. Her blue eyes seemed to pierce through Claire, but she was very pale.

"M'lady, you shall not spend your time to talk to people like that..."

"You are Undead as well?" Reah spoke, ignoring Vince.

"Yes."

"Then we have no time to fraternize. I have my mission, and you no doubt have yours. We must not let this curse overcome us."

"Are you looking for a way to break it?"

"Yes."

"Does a way even exist?"

"We shall know."

"But how is there a way to break the curse? How? And why are you holding on it so tightly?"

"Did I not explain the urgency of our task? Who are you so uncouth as to lack such judgement?" She looked at Claire with her hazed blue eyes, a strange look within them. "By the looks of you... I should think not."

"I did not mean to be rude. But... I just cannot understand."

"Some things are not to be understand easily. Sometimes, it is harder to see the path lying before you than the goal you desire to reach."

"And how do I see it?"

"You need to learn that yourself."

"Oh thank you, I think I should get going." Claire forgot her most important rule: Never trust Clerics. They only offer reluctant advices, half-truths and demand money for their _sacred _purposes. Claire walked away, while Vince called: "Vereor Nox."Claire knew, what this meant. "I do not fear the night – I fear what waits in it.", she said coldly, before she left. The crestfallen warrior were still sitting by the fire, looking up, as she came closer.

"Why, what a suppose. I did not expect, that you would made it back... with your mind intact as well."

"I did reach my goal for now."

"Oh, yes? Someone did rang the bell. Was it you?"

"And if I did?"

"Oh nothing, really. Do not stop now, there is a second one, do not forget. But this is going to be suicide..." He laughed hollowly.

"Thank you for the encouragement."

"Oh, by the way, did you see this virtuous little maiden with her followers in tow like little puppies? They are probably going straight to pillage the graves, robbing the dead of their little bit, what is left to them. No, thank you. I did heard enough of _M'Lady_ for a lifetime."

"Something is strange about her."

"Oh, yes. She truly believes the stories that is strange about her."

"I did not mean that."

"Think what you want, leave me alone."

"What were you? In your life before you became undead, I mean."

"I was a warrior of the Path of the White, yes. I have grown sick of the clerics, of their lies. And then I became Undead. What else were there to my life? And it will end, because I will become hollow soon enough."

"Why did you gave up so easily?"

"Because I have lost my faith, maybe. Now go, and leave me alone."

"Fine."

Claire turned around and headed towards the cell of the Firekeeper. She sat behind the bars, waved at Claire and then pointed to Lautrec, who settled beside the walls at the cliff.

"How did you end up in the cell?"

"Oh, I just got tricked. Have you ever heard about Trusty Patches? If someone ever rubbed me the wrong way, ugh!" He seemed disgusted. "If I ever see him again, I swear I will have his hide."

"All right... He did trick you in the cell?"

"Yes, he did, and I swear, if I see this little bastard ever again, than I..."

"Ehm, do you know how I get to the depths?"

"The old waterway. Follow it to the end. Than down the stairs and you are in the lower Undead Burg. The way down to the depths is guarded by hollows. What do you want to do down there anyway?"

"I want to get to Blighttown."

"Are you mad? What do you want in there?"

"I want to ring the second Bell of Awakening."

"So, you were the one to ring it."

"Anyway, thank you for the advice. Good bye."

Claire looked at the sky. Even though it was getting dark, there was still enough light to start to explore the Depths. She turned around, going up the stairs, only to see the clerics leaving in direction of the catacombs. Rhea led the way, her followers close behind her. Claire envied her. It was strange, envying a complete stranger who would probably die in the catacombs anyway, but Rhea had, unlike her, a goal. A goal she would die for. Claire pulled at her hood, hiding her face in the shadows of it and then headed towards the waterway. At the top of the stairs and inside the waterway, cold water greeted her. It was dark, so Claire lit a flame, like the first time she went through. Before she left the waterway as soon as possible, but this time she went through it to end. At the end, there were bars, behind them stood an Undead, almost a hollow. Dark eyes moved nervously, almost like the eyes of a fearful rabbit. They fixated at Claire, watching her moving closer.

"Hmm, you still have your senses about you? Then why won't you buy some of my moss?"

"I am sorry; madam, but I have almost no souls..."

"No, no, it is not expensive. It will serve you well in the Burg, and even in the depths and beyond."

"I cannot afford much."

"Oh, do not worry. Because it is you, dearie, I will make you a good price. Here: the red moss cures blood loss, the purple is good against poison and toxic. Ten of each for 8000 souls."

"Is this enough?"

"More than enough, dearie. Your change. Come again."

"Wait, may I ask, do you know by chance how to enter the depths?"

"Oh yes, there is a door, right beneath us. It is small, but locked. You need to get a key for it, but it is guarded by a demon. A strong one aswell. A Capra Demon it is. And with it, there a dogs and hollows who are keen of killing bypassers."

"Thank you, Madam, for your advice."

Claire turned around and left the channel. She was glad to be out of the dark channel and her flame went out. There was a better light than she anticipated, because of the torches at the wall and because of the dim light that fell through the holes in the wall and ceiling. Claire stood at the top of a small tower. As she looked down, an arrow flew past her. The shooter – a half nude hollow – aimed again. Claire stepped back and the arrow missed. She ran down the staircase, drew her sword and rammed it in the guts of the Undead. It slumped and fell down the tower. Claire moved carefully on, wary of any possible dangers down here. The smell of burning and rotten flesh reached a nose and she cringed at the smell. Down here, there was less light and night was coming. At the bottom level she saw the little door, as described by the old woman in the water way. Claire yanked at it, but even though it was very old, it did not budge. In frustration she kicked it, before turning around. Just in time, as she was ambushed by a hooded Undead. It dodged her slash and jumped behind her, holding her throat from behind, attempting to slash it. Claire kicked its legs. The hold loosened and she grabbed the forearm of the Undead with her Pyromancy flame. It let go of her and she threw a fireball at it, as it charged again. With a scream of agony, it fell to the ground, burning to its death. Claire turned around, only to see more coming – but this time, there were dogs as well. Claire loved dogs – but these had no similarity to the sweet little puppies or the big guard dogs she used to adore. Almost no fur, only nude, violet skin. The beasts jumped at her and she managed to kill all of them, except the last one. This one was less stupid than the others – it bit her in her arm, forcing her to let go of her shield. A quick hit with the sword and it, too, fell down to the ground. She grabbed her sword with both hands, ready to counter every other attack of the thieves. She dodged a throwing knife than beheaded one of the thieves. Dark blood gushed out of the cut and the others attacked her. Thanks to luck she managed to kill them, even though her cheek was badly cut. Her clothes – full of cuts – were also stained with blood. Claire grimaced than went on. The clothes clung to her skin, wet from blood. She felt ill at ease, but she had no change set of clothes with her or had found anything that would be good enough to change into. For now, she had to simply go on at hope, that she would at least soon find a creek or something else to wash her clothes.

The town here was abandoned. Claire curiously tried a few doors here and there to find none of them locked, except for one. As she rattled at the door, she heard a male voice.

"Somebody! Please, let me out of here! Somebody! Anybody! Unlock the door!" Claire hold her head to the door. "Damn... I'm finished... How did this ever happen..."

He did not sound hollow. Peeking at the lock, she saw, that it may be a complicated lock, but the metal was of inferior quality and she was confident, that she could melt it. Carefully she kindled her flame, letting the heat melt the metal. It took a while, the hot metal pouring down to the ground and the man was no doubt listening. Finally, the door opened and Claire, carefully to not step into the pool of liquid metal stepped in. In front of her stood a rather small man, obviously no warrior, rather a scholar. He was wearing dark clothes and holding a dark brown staff, marking him as a sorcerer of Vinheim.

"Brilliant! You opened the door for me!" The sorcerer grabbed her hands, shaking them and smiled at Claire. "Thank you! I am saved! I thought I might never escape! My apologies, my name is Griggs of Vinheim, a sorcerer of the school. May I hear yours, Miss Pyromancer?"

"My name is Claire of the Great Swamps."

"I am much obliged for your assistance. Thanks to you I may now assume my travels. I will rest for a while, than I will return to Firelink Shrine. I have my sorcery and I will be more cautious next time."

"I will accompany you then. It soon will be to dark to search for the key to the depths."

"The depths? What business do you have down there?"

"I am looking for a way down to Blighttown – I am searching for the second Bell of Awakening."

"Is that so? Maybe my sorcery will come in handy then. Do you have interest in learning it?"

"I do not know. I am a Pyromancer – and I do not know if I would be able to learn even a bit of magic."

"Pyromancy may be different – but basic sorcery only requires a bit of talent, but self-assessment is even more important."

"I will rethink this option. Thank you kindly."

"Yes, that is fine as well. Let us go up to Firelink Shrine."

As they reached Firelink Shrine, the sun had already set. Claire could not help to marvel the many stars shining brightly above them at the sky. In the swamps or even in the other lands she travelled, she had seldom seen such bright stars and so many as well.

"Ah... Fresh air..." He sighed and gave Claire a faint smile. "Again, thank you for your guidance."

"Your welcome, Griggs."

"As for the key to the Depths... I know where it is."

"Where?"

"A Capra Demon guards it. It usually lurks at the other end of the street of the house I was caught in. Be careful – it is strong."

"Thank you."

"You should rest here."

Claire looked around. "Yes, I think I should."

"Do you have food by chance?"

"No, I am sorry." Grass rustled and as Claire turned around, she saw a rabbit sitting on the floor, feeding on a bit of grass. "Care for roasted rabbit?"

Only minutes later Griggs and she had settled down by a small fire. The rabbit had been easy to catch and Claire was used to disembowel animals. She had hunted often in the Swamps to at least get some meat for dinner and not only withered salad and sour apples. Griggs was very talkative and did not seem to care about the fact that she was a pyromancer – she was glad about this. She was sure that Griggs was not a danger to her – he may command powerful magic, but he was still physically weak. He was a book sage – someone who knows everything from books, but has no real experience by himself. He seemed to admire – and fear – a sorcerer called "Logan".

"Have you met him by chance?" Griggs asked eagerly, while the meat was cooking. "He is far more powerful than I am. I do not fear for him – even in Lordran his skills are second to none." He sighed. "The reason I seek him... Well, I guess it is my own conceit, isn't it?"

"If that is so."

"I think the meat is ready. We should eat."

The meat was hot and Claire ate slowly, while Griggs chatted happily on. Something was not right – she felt it. Like some part of the world was missing. She stood up, gathering a bit of meat.

"Where are you going?"

"To repay a favour. I will be back shortly."

Claire had just looked for an option to get away from the talkative sorcerer. She remembered the Fire Keeper and so she strolled down the stairs leading to her cell. Lautrec looked up. She was in no mood for talking and so she sat down beside the cell.

"Here is a thank you for the food you gave me." Claire hold out the meat, which was gratefully accepted.

"Claire." Lautrec called.

"What is it?"

"Have you heard about Maiden Thorolund?"

"The girl with the clerics?"

"Yes, indeed. It seems like she has become stranded in the depths of the Catacombs. Her followers either fled or were reduced to Hollows."

"How do you know?"

"I heard it from a fleeing old man. The old bastard! All his robes and trinkets won't help him now!" A harsh laughter erupted from the knight. Claire felt her heart almost stop.

_We will be departing shortly._

Damn those Clerics! First heading towards the danger with head held high and then fleeing like weaklings. Claire eyed Petrus angrily. Her pyromancy hand was almost white, glowing with distant fire. Claire's eyes burned as well, like grey fire in the morning.

"Again. You headed to the Tomb of the Giants and then you were separated?"

"Yes. They slipped off a coffin in the Tomb of the Giants." Petrus sweated, he was pale and looked almost afraid at Claire.

"You _assume _that the other two are hollow?"

"Yes."

"Why did you not help them? They might be still alive!"

"Our mission is only to seek Kindling – casualties are normal."

Claire turned around. "Go to hell." She hissed.

Damn, why was she even _thinking_ about the foolish girl? She was a cleric – someone she could not trust. And yet she could not stop thinking about her. Banning the very thought of Rhea of Thorolund from her mind she headed up the stairs, which led to the waterway.

_I have my mission._

Seriously, how could anyone even believe these? Claire had her own mission – to ring the Bells of Awakening. Why did she even think about the foolish girl?

_Sometimes, it is harder to see the path lying before you than the goal you desire to reach._

Claire groaned. "What is wrong with me?"she murmured angrily. "Half a year ago I would not care about a Cleric. And now I fear for someone like her." Now that she thought about it, she realized that Rhea would be around the same age as her – maybe younger. And yet she was more grown up than she. And she was in a much greater pinch now.

_We must not let the curse overcome us._

This girl was probably alone by now. Alone in the Tomb of the Giants, with no one to rely on. She remembered Solaire's words clearly. That she would always have somebody to rely on. But Rhea had no one. Claire groaned again.

The Tomb of the Giants would mean one hell of a detour.

She had not the faintest idea, where Rhea was (or if she even was still living).

It would probably be suicide.

"Oh, screw it." Claire turned around and started to run. "I cannot let anyone end up as a Hollow, can I?"

Sadly she did not knew, that destiny's wheel has begun to turn.

That she had no means of preventing death.

And that she had no possibility to escape the terror that would befell her.


	7. Chapter 6: The Catacombs

****Took forever to write this. I was busy correcting stuff for a friend, who also annoyed the hell out of me (at times). So, that being said, quite a few persons pointed mistakes out in the story - and for time being, I will be busy fixing them. And I am not really content with a few chapters, so I might write them again. Sorry, could take some time!

If you spot very, very bad mistakes, **please **point them out. I really could use the help.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6: The Catacombs<strong>

As she passed by Petrus again, he grabbed her arm. She glared furiously at him. "What is it, Cleric?" she snarled.

"I just wanted to inform you, that she is now without guards. Right now, you could do as you please with her."

Claire hit him in the face. Satisfied, she heard the breaking of his nose, blood ran down his face. He stumbled back and she kicked him in the stomach, before he fell to the ground. She straddled him, sitting on his chest, before laying her pyromancy hand around his neck.

"Listen, you scum. Right now, I could kill you. And I would do it without remorse. But I am not like you. I will go down to the Tomb of the Giants and save her. And, if I ever see your sorry face again, I swear by the gods that I am going to kill you in the most gruesome way you can imagine. Understood?"

He nodded.

Claire let go of him and stood up. She glared again at the cleric, who was busy nursing his nose. "I thought, that I told you the get the hell out of here."

He stared at her, then stood up and started running towards the waterway.

"Coward." she murmured. Finally done with her business, she went into the church. The cold water calmed her down, until she heard a quiet sound. It almost sounded like a snore, but as she turned around, she saw nothing beside the stone and the cold water. The crow perched upon the walls but it only croaked before returning to tend to its feathers. Claire carefully moved out of the water and took the exit to her left, leading her to the cliff. Looking down she saw a town in ruins, guarded by a city wall. The wall was useless – Undead roamed the streets, striking down everyone in their way. The name of the City was forgotten, its inhabitants lost – everything was lost in the darkness of a thousand years. Claire shock her head, trying to forget the thoughts. Graves laid before her and she wondered, who the people was, that had been buried here and if they were also afraid of the Undead Curse like the people now. The inscriptions were hardly readable; most of the grave stones were broken by weather and time. As she careful moved one, Claire found bones at the ground. She curiously stepped closer. Menacing blue eyes flared in the skull, as she touched it. Moving back, she saw it rise, standing up, wielding a Falchion and a shield and, after it turned its head with a nauseating noise, it attacked. Claire staggered back and fell to the ground, as another skeleton grabbed her foot. She threw a fireball in a desperate attempt to fight them off, before kicking the other skeleton down and smashing its skull under her boot. "Why am I doing this again?" Claire murmured before standing up. "Oh, yes: I am trying to save a cleric. Who is possibly dead."

Cursing, she stood up and went on. From one grave she picked up a soul and binoculars. She thought it would be useless, but she picked it up anyways, just in case it might come in handy. Storing it in one of her pockets she looked up, as the sun slowly rose, shining in a bloody red. Claire did not move, remembering Solaire's words. He said, that she should find a purpose in life, beside her atonement. A reason to survive. He had his search for his own sun. And she had... what? Claire walked on, lost in thoughts. What could she possibly do anyway? Even ringing the bells could be futile, what could be after it? Another mission, and then another? Would there be an end to it? Or would it end, if she would turn hollow? Why are the gods so cruel to let this fate befall the world? Stairs winded down the cliff, leading her to a dark hole in the wall. Cold air greeted her, the smell of decaying corpses, death. From deep within the Catacombs she heard cries, screams, curses. Again, she hesitated. Was it so important to her to save this stupid cleric girl? She could still turn around and could kill the Capra Demon in the Catacombs but she still did not stir. A faint, lingering memory had her caught.

_Claire was grabbing her father's hand and tugged him to the market booth. "Buy me cake! Buy me cake!" she begged. _

_Laughing, her father bowed down and patted her head. "Oh dear." he said. "Well, we did accomplish a lot today. We might enjoy the spoils. Which one would you like – the apple cake or the one with honey?"_

_Claire loved apples – sweet and sour at a time. "Apples!" she cried out, grabbing onto her father's hand. She happily munched the cake while following her father to the church. _

"_Let's pray to the gods for a good harvest next year as well and that we all stay healthy."_

_Claire nodded, flashing a bright grin. She loved the church and it was giving her a secure feeling, especially if the Clerics of the Way of the White stood guard because of a visit of the royal family of Thorolund. Claire loved the armour of the knights and the paladins shining brightly in the sun. Occasionally, one of the clerics would tell stories about the gods to the kids, about the war against the dragons, so that humanity could arise. About Lady Gwynevere, the most beautiful deity, the Princess of the Sun, how she soothed the people as a plaque broke out. About the four knights of Gwyn – Artorias Abysswalker, Dragonslayer Ornstein, Hawkeye Gough and Lord's Blade Ciaran. About Nito and the dragons, about Lordran. And about the Witches of Izalith with their flame magic. Claire loved the stories about the witches, sometimes wishing, to be one herself, waving fire spells to defend her family from evil. She always had been fascinated by fire, she often looked into the herd fire for hours without end. She once saw a pyromancer at a market, how he threw the fire balls into the air, like a juggler. After his performance she followed him and begged him to show her, how he had down it. He had simply grinned and whispered, that he would tell her his secrets when she would be older. Her father moved through the throng and she had to hurry to not losing him. In front of the church he suddenly stopped, his face paling as a guard stopped him. "Excuse me, but may I see your documents?"_

_Her father gave him a curious look._

"_You are suspected to protect Undeads at your farm. As long as this matter is not yet cleared, you will remain in our custody."_

_The guard laid one hand on his arm. "Please follow me."_

"_Wait, my daughter!"_

"_She will be looked after. Do not worry, please go with me."_

"_No, I won't leave her behind!"_

"_I told you to go on."_

"_Claire!"_

"_Daddy!"_

_This was the last happy day she had in Thorolund. She spent two weeks at an orphanage at the church, defiantly keeping silent. No matter what the Clerics did, she remained silent. Once they even gave a few slaps to the face to force her to say her prayers. Two weeks after the arrest of her father, he came, taking her with him in the middle of the night. They crossed the border to the Swamps, leaving Thorolund forever._

Shaking her head, she freed her mind of the thoughts of the past. She hated herself for remembering these. She had almost no memories of Thorolund, of her life with her parents there. She remembered only a few stories and this day. Her mother had became soon bedridden afterwards; giving birth to Sven shortly after they departed Thorolund. As Claire turned fifteen, both her parents had died, leaving her and Sven behind. She had started training pyromancy as she turned ten, studying eagerly the ways of controlling the flames. But now she was also excluded from this. She had become Undead, she had killed her turned Hollow brother and she had reached Lordran – wherever it may lay. She had no idea of returning to the Swamps. She had neither home nor hope. So what should she fight for?

A sudden explosion disturbed her thoughts. As she looked up she saw in the darkness the faint glowing of eyes combined with a sudden movement. Mere seconds before the impact she jumped back looking at the skeleton. Torn fabric had remained but everything else has withered in the years the skeleton had remained dead in its coffin. But now it moved, having come back to live as mindless bones. Claire hissed, drawing her sword. The skeleton starred at her with evil glowing eyes, before it lunged to attack. Claire stepped aside, before hitting the skeleton. An arm was missing, its shield fell to the ground. Claire moved back. A new explosion shock the ground and Claire fell to the ground with a shriek. The skeleton, however, was not as lucky; it fell down into the abyss. Claire paled, as she realized that mere inches seperated her from the darkness of an abyss. Silently, she awaited the sound of the skeleton crushing into the ground. After five minutes she stood up and retreated to the wall, to carefully moving down again. No explosions occurred but Claire was still careful not to trip or getting any closer as she had to to the chasm. A flame lit in her hand, enabling her to see a bit farther ahead in the darkness. She passed through a door, killed another skeleton, stupid enough to jump at her, before she let herself fall down a ledge. She landed in something wet, slimy, with hard things in it. As she lifted one of the items up, a skull greeted her with a faded smile with cockroachs as eyes. She let go of it quickly, before she stood up and trying to get rid of the vermin that has already assembled at her body. She cursed and flinched, as she felt something biting through her skin at her leg. Claire caught the bug and tossed it away, before leaving the room as quickly as she could. She killed the skeletons and turned around to a hole in the wall, as she heard the skeletons rise anew. A fire ball grew in her hand and the skeletons were caught up in the explosion. Claire quickly made her way through the hole, but she heard the skeletons rise again in the main room. In the small room she entered, she saw an eerie being swinging a latern, as well as multiple skeletons. A quick fire ball took out the skeletons for now and she lunged at the being. Flames lit the little rum, her own and the ones of her opponent. He carried a lamp, shaped like a skull with beard which he used to try and hit her. Claire stepped aside and her sword slashed the creature's neck. The next hit landed on her, but her sword reached the creatures heart before it could kill her. Turning around, Claire took out the skeletons sneaking at her before she stopped. A look around the room showed her, that it was a dead end, but it also revealed a lever at her right. She sheathed her sword, stepped up to the lever and tugged. She fought against the stone lever, heels digging in the ground but to no avail; the lever did not budge or even moved. Claire stared at it until a hand reached out to the lever and pushed it in. First, Claire almost smacked her, as she realized that she was supposed to push. Then, she turned around and stared at a Paladin clad in golden and white armour. He did not said anything, he simply turned around and went out of the chamber.

"Thank you!", she shouted, running after him. But as she reached the main chamber, she saw nothing except bones and an exit leading into a ravine. Stunned she looked around, but did not see him.

"Sir? Where are you?" she shouted.

No one answered her. Unsure what to do, she stood still, thinking for awhile. She could not hear anything, so she left through the exit. A pale sun greeted her, but a rotten stench lay in the air. A look around gave her the answer: There were tombs and Undeads in this place and Claire spotted one of the Necromancer beings at the side opposite of her own. Claire looked down, trying to search for the bottom, but she did not even see it, so she looked up again and wondered, if her fire balls would reach as far as the necromancer stood.

"If I only had a crossbow or something..." she muttered.

Than she hit her forehead with her hand, fumbled with her bag and retrieved her acquired crossbow out of it.

"I am stupid. I am trying to save a cleric. I am to stupid to even remembering a crossbow if I have one." she murmured. "Is my brain rotting or something?"

She lifted it, aimed carefully and fired. The necromancer shuddered, but turned around to her. Claire quickly reloaded and shot a second bolt, followed by a third. Claire sighed, as the Necromancer dropped down, soon followed by his reawakened skeletons. Claire followed the path over a bridge leading her to an entrance to the darker parts of the catacombs yet again. She continued to fight skeletons and caught more necromancers on her way down, until she encountered an upturned bridge. She eyed it curiously, before looking around to find a lever or an other way to the other side of the catacombs. She climbed a ladder, only to see a bald man with a big spear and a shield as tall as him.

"Good day!" he called cheerfully. "You look reasonably sane."

"So do you." Claire gave a small smile.

"So, what does a young lass like you in the Catacombs? Are you a cleric or something?"

"No, I am not. I am looking for one though."

"Oh really? There is no one beside me here. Go over the bridge, maybe you will find what you are looking for. But be cautious – this place is treacherous. Watch your step."

"Thank you kindly." Claire jumped down the ledge and went to the bridge. Around the middle, the bridge started to move. Claire stumbled, than managed to save herself from falling by jumping on a small ledge at her side. "Oh sorry, girl!" the bald man shouted. "I slipped and flipped the lever, I am so sorry!"

"Please, flip it back than!" Claire shouted.

"It doesn't work."

Claire raised her eyebrows. "Fine, than I will go on and see, if I can make it up again."

"Yes, have fun!"

Claire turned around and jumped down, before entering the catacombs again. Again, she stood at a dark stair case and only the evil lights of a skeleton warned her that she was going to be attacked. Claire stepped back, but it stumbled and fell to its death. Only a very quiet noise of breaking bones was to be heard. Claire, curious, to which the staircase may lead, followed it down. In the far she could hear steel hitting steel and she proceeded down. Suddenly, the staircase ended and she stepped into the darkness. Before she was able to regain balance, she fell. She lifted her hands and tried catching herself but only hurt her hands, before she hit the ground rather hard. She starred into the darkness, the sound of something big hitting metal suddenly very near her. As she regained her strength, she carefully stood up, before taking a sip of her Estus than she jumped down. The hammering stopped and a giant skeleton with a beard and a pick. It stepped nearer and Claire readied her sword. As the skeleton raised its pick, she lifted her sword. He moved quick, smashing the wall in one swift hit. Claire starred at him.

"Be gone with you." he hissed. "You spoil my focus."

"Uuh... Wait!" Claire shouted after she regained her words.

"I told you to go." the skeleton starred at her, before pounding at its anvil.

"You are a blacksmith?"

"I am. I'm here to smith, not to chit chat."

"Yes, yes, but I am in hurry. Please, tell me, did you see clerics down here? I am in search for a girl called Rhea of Thorolund – she should have been here."

"No, I did not. I told you, did'nt I? I am smithing, and this is what I am here for, not talking!"

"Than please tell me how do get to the Tombs of the Giants."

"The Tomb of the Giants?" The skeleton looked up. "There is a being called Pinwheel up ahead. If you wish to go to the Tombs than you need to fight it."

"Pinwheel... Please tell me, is it possible to bypass it somehow?"

"No. It stole a part of Nito's power and it cannot go far. It is bond in this place as its guardian. The last way to bypass it has collapsed."

Claire sighed. "There is no way around it then?" she asked again.

"No there is not. And I am of no aid to such a righteous warrior as yourself."

"I am not righteous." Claire murmured. "I have killed my own brother. I am lost. I have no reason to go on except for my atonement. So what is righteous about me?"

Suddenly, she felt something been thrown at her. As she looked down, she saw dark leather gloves.

"Here, take this. You do need an armour and I am a blacksmith. Take a bit of stuff with you." The skeleton continued to search in the back. Metal clattered, than a bundle of fabric and metal was thrown at her.

"Try it on."

She took of her hood and her robe, revealing a bloodstained former white shirt beneath it. She put the chain mail on, struggling to close it. The skeleton circled her, than grabbing her sleeves.

"Too long." he murmured. "It needs to be shortened. You also need new boots and a helmet. A new shield and sword would not be bad either."

"Excuse me?" Claire asked. "I cannot afford this much... I have almost no souls. And I do not know your name, sir..."

"Long ago I was called Vamos."

"My name is Claire of the Great Swamps. I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

Vamos ignored her, as he continued to search in the back. "Take of the chain mail. I need to shorten it. Take a few swings with these swords while you are at it."

A few swords landed on the ground, before Claire could say a word. Quickly she took off the chain mail, before lifting up a sword. It was too heavy for her to wield, so she leaned it against the wall. Vamos dropped wordlessly a pile of shields beside her before he took the chain mail and went to work. The ember flared up and soon he began hammering again. Claire tried out a few swords, before she choose a straight sword similar to the one she picked up from one of the Balder Knights guarding the Church, but it felt less heavier and it was much sharper. She sheathed it, before choosing a shield. It was a metal shield, not too big, but not too small either. She secured the leather striped on her forearm than moves a bit.

"Good, I am finished here as well." Vamos said, handing her the chain mail. "And now, get out of here! You are not to be here! You spoil my focus!"

"Yes, but do I not have to pay for th..."

"Your payment is to leave me alone! Be gone!"

"Y-Yes... Thank you again!"

Claire grabbed her new armour and weapons and stumbled away, than hastily dressed herself. As she was finished, she looked down at her body. It was a dark chain mail – coal hat cloaked it while smithing. She wore now dark leather boots and chain mail trousers, covering her whole body and legs in metal. With every move her armour clattered and it was unfamiliarly heavy. But she could move just fine with it, as well as with her new shield and sword. Claire left through the hole in the wall Vamos made and moved up a small path towards a large area covered with bugs and bones. Water filled small pools between the hills of death and vermin and Claire wondered, how far she was still away from Rhea. A noise caught her interest and she turned around, only to encounter a wheel moving towards her. She jumped out of the way, but it turned and attacked again. She dodged again trying to stab it. No matter what she did, she could not hit it. Suddenly, a white and golden clad Paladin arrived from the darkness, killing the Bone Wheel in a swift blow. Claire remembered the person – it was the Knight from before that pulled the lever for her. "Thank you!" she shouted. The Paladin silently nodded, than turned around to leave. Claire quickly ran after him.

"Tell me... What is your name?" No response.

"My name is Claire of the Great Swamps. It is a pleasure to see you, sir." Again, no response. The paladin just moved faster.

"Where are you heading to? To the Tomb of the Giants as well?"

A massive stone plate stretched before her and Claire stared at it. Quiet chanting was to be heard, an oily stench laid in the air. Claire and the Paladin crept closer, looking down. Than he jumped down in the pit. Pinwheel – she assumed that it was it – moved closer, fire burning at him. It wore three masks, similary to a child, a man and a woman and black robes. Claire saw, how the Paladin closed in, sword drawn. Without a second thought, she jumped in her Pyromancy hand aflame. A fire orb hit the Pinwheel and it shuddered as the paladin rammed his sword in his abdomen. Fire whirled around the room, setting the books aflame before engulfing the Pinwheel. More flames gathered and the Paladin continued his deathly dance with the Pinwheel. Suddenly it shuddered again, before collapsing on the ground. Claire draw her sword, stepping over to it. As she saw it moving she immediately slashed its throat – or where she supposed his throat was. Before she could stop herself, she hacked its arms in pieces, but the paladin stopped her arm before she could move on. He shoke his head, looking almost sad. Like waking up from a deep slumber she starred at the Pinwheel in horror. Than she threw up beside it. She coughed and gagged trying to clear her throat. The paladin softly patted her shoulder, before standing up. Without a word, he vanished again. Claire remained still at the corpse staring at her defeated opponent. She felt dirty, as she would have been soaking in blood, not in sweat. Shaking she stood up and searched for an exit. By seconds, she found a ladder leading her to the other side of the hole and she walked towards the darkness.


	8. Chapter 7: Venture in the Dark

It's been awhile. I haven't finished yet correcting of the prologue and the first chapter and had some problems at home. Good news though - I will enter university this october for my chosen subjects (Japanese and English Studies). Sadly, it isn't the uni I wished to go, but maybe a wonder is going to happen and I will be able to go there instead. I will know in september.

Next chapter, feel free to leave comments and thanks to those, who already wrote some! And of course a thank you to those who added my story to the favourites!

By the way, comments help me think for some reason...

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><p><strong>Chapter 7: Venture in the Dark<strong>

Darkness enveloped her like a blanket. Blindly she searched for a way, guided by the small, glowing orbs at her feet – probably the clerics left them. Her pyromancy hand gave off a bit off light but not enough to enlighten her surroundings completely. The farther she went, the darker it became. Giant skeletons stood in her way and she was not sure, how she had managed to beat them without getting herself killed. Fire killed them or knocked them off edges, but she was not sure, how much longer she would be able to fight on. She was exhausted, her skin withered away slowly. She had to soon consume humanity or souls or else she would not make it out sane. At a secured ledge she rested and sat down at an almost extinguished fire. Her knees were drawn to her chest and she stared at the ember. The air felt cold and she decided to rest up until she felt better.

"_Concentrate on the fire, Claire." Little Claire, ten years old, tried to form a flame in her open palm. A few embers gleamed in her palm, but no flame._

"_I can't do it." she squealed. She pressed her hand into the turf._

"_Don't do this." her teacher snapped and grabbed her arm. "The flame is part of your soul. You are not supposed to extinguish it like that. Or would you dig a part of your soul in the dirt?"_

"_The priests said..."_

"_To Chaos with the Priests!" he said sharply. "Those damned Priests stole everything from your family! They forced them and so many others to hide in the swamps. You won't survive a day outside of the Swamps if you trust them. Hate them, for what they did."_

_At a little village, Claire performed in front of a group of farmers, mostly children. Flames rose in the air like birds, she juggled with fire balls, before the fire dripped down and formed new figures. From the corner of her eyes, she saw clerics standing a the church, eyeing her wearily. She stopped her performance, bowed and gathered a few copper coins, before dashing away hastily. Their curses followed her until the forest, before she stopped, to take a breath. It was also the first time, she saw an Undead – a young man, with the glowing circle at his hand, begging her silently, not to scream. As the clerics caught up, their attention shifted from her to the Undead. Between his desperate cries for help and mercy, Claire fled the scene._

_As she stood at her parents' grave, holding the hand of her crying brother Claire silently wondered, what she was going to do. He was only seven – her teacher might care for them, but there was not enough money to feed all young orphans. And Sven was too young to be an apprentice. Maybe it would be better to leave him alone in an orphanage? There were a few near the border – Thorolund was not the only neighbouring country, Astora was close as well. If Sven would be there, she could continue her studies while he had a chance for a better life, she told herself. In her heart, she knew that she only wanted her brother go away – he was a burden for her. Her teacher came closer, holding out his hand to the siblings. Claire grabbed it gladly and followed the old man to his hut. _

"_You know, girl, it is the cleric's fault. They could have healed your parents, both of them, but they would never lift a finger for us pyromancers or for those who have no money. Remember this. Don't show them your gratitude, only your hatred. Don't trust them. Don't rely on them. Just hate them. On the front is written saint, on the back is written hypocrite."_

Claire shock her head, cursing herself silently. She was getting caught up in her memories yet _again –_ and she absolutely hated it. She stood up, not minding to extinguish the flames, before she carefully left the fireplace, not keen on falling into an abyss possibly miles deep. Soon she saw a familiar face – Trusty Patches.

"Hello there, lass." he called. "Hope, you're not angry with me slipping and pulling the lever."

"It was just a mistake, was it not?" Claire gave back, smiling softly.

"Yeah, it was!" Patches stated cheerfully, before pointing down the pit. "And as a compensation, there is treasure down there. We will split, how does that sound?"

"What kind of treasure?"

"Don't know yet. Weapons I guess. Armour. But anyway, it will be useful! C'mon, take a look! From there where the glowing orb lies, you get a pretty good look down there!"

Claire moved carefully to the ledge. "I cannot see anything." she said.

"Take a closer look, girl! It'll shimmer you blind!"

Claire bowed than, until she almost kneelt at the ground. She felt stupid, gaping at the darkness beneath her. "I still cannot..."

Trusty Patches – _gods_ alone knew how fast he got behind her – kicked her. Claire stumbled, waving her arms in hope to regain her balance – and ultimately fell down. She had barely opened her mouth to scream, awaiting a long fall and an even worse impact at the ground, before she smashed in the bottom of the hole. Her ribs cracked and she felt them slashing through her skin at her sides. All air was pressed from her body as she coughed up blood.

From above she could hear a cruel chuckle, as Patches called down to her. "This is what I do, my friend. The trinkets I'll be stripping of your rotting corpse – that's the real treasure!"

As he continued to laugh, Claire, finally snapped. "You goddamn bastard!" she shrieked. "If I get hold of you ever again, I swear by Nito, that I will rip every single limp of, and then burn you slowly to death, you fucking asshole!"

Only laughter answered her furious and she sat up, only to slump at the ground. Her sides hurt and she could feel blood seeping out of her wounds. Suddenly, a white shadow moved and Claire lit her flame in a matter of seconds. Rheas pale face was seen and – to her gratefulness – she was still Undead and not yet Hollow. "Finally good news." she managed to get out, before she fell to the ground, exhausted.

"Hold still. I will treat your wounds."

Claire felt a soothing healing miracle wash over her body. The pain diminished, than vanished. Her broken bones retreated into her body, closing the wounds and with quiet cracks, her ribs adjusted themselves before repairing. Mere minutes after, Claire sat up and eyed Rhea.

"Thank you."

Rhea gave a faint smile, before sighing. Now Claire could see that she cried.

"Where are two others?"

"Hollow. They have yet to attack me. They were so brave knights, my former escorts. Who would let two so strong souls be hollowed?"

Claire did not answer, instead she stood up, feeling around for her sword. Luckily, it did not unsheathed itself as she fell or else she would be in a pinch now. With her sword and her flames she could stand up to the hollowed knights alone – no matter how skilled they might have been.

"Stay behind me.", she told Rhea, before she drew her sword. In the darkness she could not see neither Nico nor Vince, but she could hear their rustling armour. Hollows, as far as she observed, followed their instinct, craving for the life of others. She did not have to go after them – they would come to her. Minutes passed before the shape of a man – Nico? Or was it Vince? - appeared in the darkness. Claire acted swiftly – she thrust her sword in the chest, than slicing up a large part of its upper body, forcing it to go away from Rhea. She lit up her flame, before setting the body of the former cleric knight aflame, hoping that Rhea would not see the damage down by the fire. The second one tried to sneak up on and stabbing her with her spear, but she could dodge and she threw quickly a few fire balls in his direction. Soon, both knights collapsed, burning to ashes because of her flames. She carefully walked back to Rhea, and sat down beside her.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"Yes, yes... the gods must have hold out a protecting hand."

"Maybe."

"You... banished those two Hollows, did you not?"

"If it would not be like that, I would not be standing here."

Rhea sighed. "It pains me how much trouble my failings have caused. I am certain that both Vince and Nico are grateful to you. Thank you very much." Rhea smiled warmly and Claire turned away.

"Are you sure about them being happy?" she murmured. "I killed them just now by throwing a Fire Ball at them."

"You freed them of being Hollows. Being Hollow is a fate that we want to escape, no matter what will happen. Since the first Undead appeared in the Way of White, we were being sent to Lordran in order to gain the Rite of Kindling – raising a Bonfires strength in order to become stronger and to strengthen the Age of Fire. To keep the Flames from dying out."

"A flame will only remain lit, if you feed it. What is the food of them I wonder?"

"I do not know. You should head back up."

"What about you?"

"I will only endanger you, if I choose to go with you. Let me gather my strength and I will make my way up alone. Please do not worry."

"No, you will come with me. It is to dangerous."

"I will pray to the gods that they might guide me."

"Praying to the gods will not help you to survive to the Firelink Shrine. Come with me. I do not wish to see any other person go hollow. I already had to kill my own brother!"

Rhea shock her head. "My condolences. But it will still be to dangerous for the two of us to return safely to the Firelink Shrine."

Claire bit her lip. Then she grabbed Rhea's hand, hauling her off the ground. "You are coming with me, whether you like it or not!"

Rhea sighed, defeated.

Trusty Patches paled, as Claire and Rhea emerged from the shadows of the Tombs of the Giant. On his head sweat formed as Claire came closer. "Oh... hey... it's you..."

"Seems like that. I do hope, that you do remember my... promise. The promise about ripping your limbs off and burning you to death, I mean."

Patches lifted his hands in defense, paling even more. "That is just a misunderstanding... These urges, you know... they suddenly overcame me. I couldn't do anything about them."

Claire lifted her eyebrows. Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Oh, sure. You get urges to kick peoples down in deep hole and loot their corpses after they died."

There was silence for a while, until Patches sighed relieved and patted Claire's head with one hand. "Nice that you understand..."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Claire screeched, shaking his hand of angrily. "You are telling me blatant lies like that and you think I would believe you? After you turned a spiked bridge, kicked me down into a pit, waiting for me to die and trying to tell me that certain _urges _are the reason that I fell?"

"Wait, wait, wait... I mean, we share the same fate, do we? All of us are jolly Undead outcasts, aren't we? And you two girls are still alive, aren't you?"

Claire lit her Pyromancy flame.

"Wait, wait, wait... Wait! Don't overdo things or act rashly, sweetie!" Patches took a step back. "Please, forgive me! Will not happen anymore! I promise! Please! I'm sorry!"

Claire starred at him. "Be lucky, that I need my strength to return to Firelink Shrine. Or else..."

"Y-Yes! I won't harm you! Turn around and walk away, have a nice day!"

Claire and Rhea turned around, to retrace their steps toward the exit. Before they left Patches' immediate vicinity, Claire stopped once more. "Before I forget it... If I ever meet you again and you try to back-stab me or anyone else, I swear I am going to kill you."

Rhea did not talk much, until she and Claire reached Firelink Shrine. It was night and silence laid upon the place only disturbed by the wind whistling and the occasionally cries of the crow. The sky was overcast by clouds, heavy and thick.

"It will rain soon." Claire mused.

"It could be a thunderstorm. In this case we should take shelter as soon as possible."

"Let us head to the Undead Church. We should be safe up there."

On their short way to the elevators, they encountered nobody – neither Lautrec nor Griggs nor Petrus nor the Crestfallen Warrior appeared, for which Claire was glad. She briefly thought about what she would do with Petrus, if she would encounter him, but she dismissed the very thought of him quickly. In the church itself it was calm and silent. The broken bench creaked beneath the weight of the two girls who were silent.

"May I ask where you are from?" Rhea turned her head to Claire, eyeing her curiously.

"I am from the Great Swamps." Claire laughed at Rhea's shocked look. "Yes, you heard me right. I am a _heretic_. But if this is any consolation to you, I was born in Thorolund and educated in the tales of the gods."

"But if you were educated in the ways of the gods, than why did you..."

"Clerics framed my family for hiding Undead at our farm. My parents were taken into custody, I was given into an orphanage. My family and I managed to escape to the Swamps and it became my home."

"But how were you framed? Was there an Undead at your farm."

"No one I knew off. Our farm was small – my parents worked there alone. There was not much place to hide anything anyway."

"But why were you framed? I never heard of such a case before."

"I later found out that on our grounds were a gold vein. Someone wanted it, framed my parents and bought the farm with the gold vein. And for the thing about never hearing about the framing... Would you believe a heretic? And even if you would be able to prove your innocence would they live to tell?"

"But such a thing has to be..."

"Stopped? Please, this is simply not possible. You may have grown up as a lady of Thorolund, but we are Undead now. You can keep your righteous anger to yourself. My past is long forgotten – even if I would have the chance to return to Thorolund I would not return. I have lost everything that connects me to Thorolund. I even do not have any reason to return to the Swamps. I... We have no place to return to."

"Than why, if you have no hope left, did you save me? What would it be of your concern what happens to me?"

"Someone told me to find a reason to life. And I thought I could find it with you."

"You could not have been more wrong about this."

"Maybe. But we are here." Claire paused. "You know... You are actually one of the first who believed me, that I am no heretic. Even most from the Great Swamps believe, that everyone from the Great Swamp is a heretic."

"Is that so?"

There was silence for a while. While they have talked, it started to rain. Large drops hit the ground, making it difficult to see anything. Lightning flashed shortly, illuminating the church and the thunder shock the ground.

"I wonder what happened to Petrus." Rhea suddenly asked.

"I broke his nose, last time I saw him. I figured that breaking his nose after he essentially told me to do anything I want with you was a fitting retribution."

"Perhaps he realized my weakness all along. Maybe that is the reason, he left me behind. After all, it was my frailty and my ignorance that sealed Vince and Nico's fate to end as Hollows."

"That is not an excuse. He was supposed to take care for you. He should have done it right."

"I can hardly blame him."

Claire stood up, taking a few steps away. "He was tasked to care for you and he failed. He made a run back to the Shrine and left you rot for good. How can you be so forgiving?"

At the same moment, something hit her from behind. A morning star, by the feeling of it. Claire staggered, hitting the bench beside Rhea, before she fell to the ground. She hissed in pain, before turning around. Petrus stood behind her, his broken nose swollen and red.

"Oh, it's you?" he asked. "You saved Milady, did you not?"

"Seems like it, coward." Claire hissed, clenching her teeth. She had broken her ribs yet _again_, the third time, if she was right.

"Too bad, that you will not save her another time." He gave Rhea a short glance. She sat there, unafraid and dignified. "It will amount to nothing. Without her family's name she is worth nothing."

"Is that so, Petrus? I wonder what has gotten into you."

"Oh, humanity does come in handy in Lordran. You two will die because of this."

"Oh, shut up." Claire snapped, reaching for her sword. "In my eyes, you are just a traitor who is escaping his duties as a guard."

"And you are a heretic from the Swamps, no matter what you claim to be."

Claire drew her sword, standing up on shaking legs. Taking her shield would cost to much time and she had to defend Rhea as well. She took it into both hands, before looking at Petrus. She was faster than him, but his armour would be difficult to pierce. Claire stepped aside, before attacking him. Her sword was blocked by his shield and he countered with his morning star. Claire avoided it by a hair's breath, but stumbled across a fragment of a statue. Her fall reminded her of her broken ribs and she gave a small cry of pain. Petrus lifted his morning star – probably to crush her skull and end her (Undead) life – but he stopped. His eyes widened, he let his morning star fall on the ground and he looked down on his chest.

"Why... How could I... What the... What did I wrong..."

An ominous, but yet cheerfull voice answered him. "Thou hast sinned. Fear thine indelible wrongdoings. I shall accept thy next confession, in the hereafter!"

Petrus slumped and fell to the ground, hitting it with a heavy thud.

"You shalt burn his body so he does not rise as a Hollow again." The man advised her. Claire could only nod, to stunned to say anything else. Rhea was crying, she could see it from her place. Surely Petrus had meant some sort of comfort to her in Lordran, even after his betrayal. Claire stood up, before she lit a flame. Petrus body was soon enveloped by her flames and as she watched them burn, she almost regretted not to burn him as he stilled lived. He would have deserved it.

"May I ask your name, dear sir?" Rhea asked.

"My name is Oswald of Carim the Pardoner. You are friends. Sin is my dominion, so do one of you feel the need to confess?"

"Thank you for saving us." Claire said, before turning around.

"Hmm... Thou with the silver hair... Thou art carrying heavy sin as well. Like Petrus thou art drenched in sin."

"Yes I do. And I am willing to atone for it."

"Thou art? This is rare. Most deny this very fact."

"Does it matter? I am willing to atone. My goal is to ring the Bells of Awakening. I need to find a way to Blighttown."

"Blighttown! A swamp filled with sin and chaos!" Oswald exclaimed.

"I think I should get going. I did lose too much time. Farewell."Claire turned around. For some reason she was sure that Oswald would not harm Rhea – he killed Petrus so she should be safe. Her sins may have tainted her but she wished to atone for them – alone. It was her objective from the beginning and staying here would not bring her any further.

"Thou art welcome anytime. It is only human to sin and to confess."Oswald said in a disturbingly cheerful voice.

"I will remember this." Claire said, suppressing a shudder.

"Vereor Nox." Rhea quietly said.

The street of the Lower Undead Burg was quiet. The only noise was the screaming of someone, who fell prey to the Capra Demon.


	9. Chapter 8: Maw in the sewer

Next chapter, sorry it took so long (again). I was in Italy for the two last weeks without internet. In the next few days, I will reupload the first few chapters that are better readable and with lesser errors.

So far, I've done the story roughly a third. Chapter 9 and 10 are almost finished, still in need of spell checking though,

And I would like to thank who recommended my story on TvTropes! Seriously, saved my day, as I waited (and still waiting) for the Skyrim DLC. This chapter is for you!

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><p><strong>Chapter 8: Maw in the sewer<strong>

Claire carefully observed the demon before her. It patrolled the streets but had not taken any interest in her – yet. From her hiding place she could see him killing another one of the thieves that lured in the dark. The Capra Demon hold two broadswords in his hands and had the shape of a goat walking on two legs with a skull as its helmet. Even from distance Claire could smell it – blood, gore, dirt and possibly more – but the dogs around it and feeding on everything that the demon left over did not seemed to care. Claire carefully loaded her crossbow, aiming at the first dog, nearer to her. A bolt ended its life and Claire quickly reload. The second one missed – the dog howled in anger and jumped at her. A quick thrust with her sword ended its life but the Capra Demon closed in, quicker than she thought it could even move.

Claire stumbled back, trying to get distance between it and her so she could use her flame. It was quick and its swords hit the ground only inches before her feet. Strong and heavy attacks and yet fast enough to make it difficult to gain ground – Claire cursed her rotten luck. But maybe she did deserve it. Finally she was able to create a flame without tripping over her feet and threw it. The stench of burning fur reached her nose and she quickly moved around the goat demon, to stab it from behind and to cut its tensions. Lucky enough, the Capra Demon was distracted by her fire ball and did not realize until it was to late. It fell to his knees and she cut its neck. Blood soaked the partly burned fur as it fell to the ground, limp and hopefully dead. Claire sheathed her sword and started to search for the key to the sewers, looking first at the other end of the small room the demon was in. Finally, she found it: Laying on the ground at the top of a staircase leading to nowhere. She took it before turning around and leaving the small room. Only then she heard the noise of something stepping behind her.

Claire turned around, ready for the worst.

The Capra Demon, with its sliced neck, stood again, shakingly, but it stood. Claire turned around and run. The Demon screamed in fury and charged after her, while Claire was running as fast as she could towards the door to the sewers. Thugs, dogs and Hollows alike jumped out of the way of the furious Capra Demon while it chased Claire to the door. Upon reaching the door, Claire slammed the key into the lock and turned it around. The key fell from her shaking hands and she turned around ready to face the furious demon. Instead she saw a man clad in golden armour strolling towards her.

"Lautrec?" she asked weakly. "You know that there is a Capra Demon after me?"

"I disposed of it." he answered and shrugged. "While you was busy running away from it."

"Thank you then." Claire picked the key off the ground and unlocked the door. Cold air touched her face as she took a few steps down the dark staircase.

Lautrec followed her down, until she turned around. "You do not need to follow me around."

"You have been running from such a lowly demon like the Capra Demon. How do someone like you know what is waiting in the sewers?"

"It is not your concern what I do."

"My honour as a knight demands, however, that I repay your favour."

"The favour is repaid by you slaying the Capra Demon, is it not?"

"Oh it is. But I took interest in the one who managed to kill the gargoyles so she could ring the bells."

"I was not alone."

"Oh, that is the reason? A companion, brave enough to do the killing for you?"

"He only helped me. He did not do the killing by himself."

"Help can often lead to reliance. What happens if you rely on the wrong person?"

"I doubt that he would betray me. He is not the man for this."

"Is he? Or is this faith ill-placed?"

"It is not."

"But you need to rely on no one but yourself. Or else someone might think it would be fine to kill someone with humanity in order to survive. Take this little maiden at Firelink Shrine for example... she is easy prey."

"She is not easy prey. She is not an animal to be hunted down."

"Is she?"

Claire turned around and lead the way to the sewer. She could hear the noise of Hollows. Lautrec continued to follow her. "It would be an easy kill. So much humanity, so few uses for her."

"Please stop it."

Both of them fought against countless Undead on their way down. Lautrec continued to try to convince Claire of the possibilities that would be open if she would kill people for their humanity but she did not paid to him much heed. In the sewers there were Undead, giant rats, dogs and butchers. Claire was partly glad that Lautrec was with her – without him it would be much more complicated to reach the ground. After Lautrec took down a butcher, Claire heard a quiet cry for help. Curiously she followed the noise to a room full of barrows. A man with a tattered robe gave a bashful smile as she looked at him.

"You! You must help me! Or else she will have me for lunch! So please!"

Lautrec huffed and crossed his arms. "What a fool. To be caught by such a lowlifes like them. And caught into a barrel! What a joke!"

Claire gave him a sour look. By the accent she could imagine that the man was from the Great Swamps and that he maybe would be a fellow pyromancer. It would feel reassuring having another pyromancer around – a keepsake of her lost home. She lifter her sword, sticking it between the loose planks and broke the barrel. The poor man fell against her, knocking her from her legs.

"Thank you. Without your aid I would be her supper. Being eaten alive! I shudder to think..."

"You are a pyromancer of the Great Swamp, are you not?"

"Y-Yes, I am Laurentius of the Great Swamps."

"I am Claire, as well from the Swamps. Glad to meet a fellow pyromancer in Lordran."

"Yes, yes, fine that you like each other. But this fellow should head up to Firelink Shrine. Not to imagine, what would happen next to him." Lautrec huffed again.

"Will you be fine, girl?" Laurentius asked worried.

"I will be fine. Do not worry."

"Sure?"

"Yes. I will."

"Good, then I will take my leave. We will meet again."

"Yes, we will."

"Don't dare to go hollow."

"Neither should you."

Lautrec was silent after that – an ominous silence. Claire did her best to ignore the knight in golden armour, taking out her enemies before they would take her out. Water dripped from the low ceiling, run down the wall and gathering on the floor. Occasionally, a slime dropped down in their way but it was easily killed by Claire's pyromancy.

Suddenly, Lautrec stood still. "Someone is following us."

"Who?"

"I do not know. But he is close."

Claire lifted her own sword. From the darkness of a shadow a knight stepped forward. Claire sighed in relief as she recognized Solaire's steel armour.

"Solaire." she stepped between Lautrec's blade and the sun knight.

"Claire. Good to see you in one piece." Claire felt his soft surcoat at her face, as he hugged her, short, but affectionately.

"And this fellow is...?" asked Lautrec warily.

"Knight Solaire of Astora. A comrade. And you are are by chance the rude knight who departed with Claire?"

"I might be. The name is Knight Lautrec of Carim."

"An honour to meet you and thank you for taking care of Claire." Solaire sounded matter-of-factly, but he seemed to be on edge. "May I take over? I am used to fight alongside Claire. And you seem to be... slightly tiered."

"And I still have to repay my debt to her." Lautrec retorted.

"Is that so? I think your help until now is enough repayment."

"But I am _dying_ to see the one who rang the First Bell of Awakening fighting a real foe."

"You saw her fighting long enough. Claire let us go forward – the faster we get out of the sewers, the more lucky we both will be." Without waiting for an answer he grabbed her arm softly and forced her going with him. She took a few steps, before trying to free herself. "Solaire, what has gotten into you?"

"Later."

"No, now!"

"Later."

Claire's heart seemed to stop – what would happen, if Lautrec was right after all? Suddenly she felt afraid of him. Solaire suddenly stopped and looked around.

"Serious, Claire, you should stop being so trustful. Not everyone is a knight in shining armour."

"And what about you, Solaire?" Claire asked.

"What did he told you?"

"And what are you doing?"

"_What did he told you?_"

"That it might not be right to trust you." Claire turned around. "And maybe he was right."

Claire suddenly felt cold steel at her neck. Solaire's sword lingered there for a moment, before he withdraw it. "It may be wrong to trust me, yes. I might cause more trouble for than I am worth. But I had more chances to kill you than I could even count. So, do not trust me if you wish – but be aware that I will not kill you. I could have done it. But I did not."

"But you..."

"I had a reason. And excuse me my worries, but there is something off with this man – Lautrec of Carim I mean."

"What should be off with him?"

"I followed you quite a while. He seems to be... dangerous. Claire, stay away from him at any cost. I do not know what he is up to – yet – but it is definitely nothing good."

"I do not think that."

Solaire sighed. "Better safe than sorry. I cannot force you – but I will not be always near you to save you."

"I can take care of myself."

"I know. But I just want to make sure that you reach your goal."

"By the way... How did you knew that I am here?"

"I met Rhea and Oswald. They told me you left for the sewers. Shortly after I went after you I met this pyromancer – Laurentius, was it? - and he showed me which direction you have taken. It was easy to find you."

"Why did you came after me in the first place?"

"I was worried."

"That does not seem like a sufficient reason to follow me."

"Claire, we are Undead, I actually have a certain interest in you not dying on me and you are a suicidal young girl, who wants to atone by ringing the Bells of Awakening guarded by monsters. I think I have the right to be worried. And you are a still inexperienced. I, too, wish not to see someone turn Hollow."

Claire was silent.

Solaire continued. "You are a fearful opponent. But Lordran is dangerous."

"Solaire? But could you please stop aiding me so much? I know, you want to make sure I am safe but I wish to learn to do things on my own. You said it yourself: You will not be always near me."

"Fine. But be careful. No rushing into battles like before."

"Fine, fine." Claire gave a small smile.

After hours of wading trough cold water, fighting of monsters and Undead, a court filled with light came in sight. Light-filled was an exaggeration but in contrast to the dark sewers it was a welcome change. Claire was glad to breath – almost - fresh air and she quickly moved down the stairs followed by Solaire. At the ground level of the court they stood still for a second. The walls were marked by claws and Claire spotted at least four corpses laying at the ground. Additionally, a pool of water had gathered in the other half of the court leaving no other way out.

"Seems like a dead end." Solaire said. "We should head back and find an other way down."

"If there is one."

"There should be one. I know about a difficult detour via New Londo and the Valley of the Drakes. But it would take a long time and I do not know if we can reach it."

"We do not know until we tried, don't we?" Claire sighed and forced herself to smile.

"Yes, right."

Both Undead turned around and walked back to the door, as they heard small waves breaking at the stones of broken pillars. As Claire turned around, she could see a small head – almost like the head of a crocodile – looking around, fixating then both Undead before rising. Solaire nudged her in the side.

"I guess, we have a problem." he muttered.

A giant maw opened up. Half of the body of the dragon seemed to be maw – the rest stomach. Claire lit a fire ball in her hand, while Solaire readied a lightning bolt.

"Any ideas?" she asked.

"Not dying?" he suggested.

"Besides that?"

The dragon crashed into the ground. Claire's fireball crushed against scales, Solaire's lightning bolt hit the creature in the maw. A scream echoed from the walls. Claire created another fire ball. Solaire, on the other side of the dragon, lured it to himself. Claire run closer to it, smelling the stench of its maw, the scales and the rotten flesh between the teeth. A fireball hit the maw, teeth blackened with soot. The dragon turned its attention to the woman, while Solaire staggered fell to one knee. He seemed to be exhausted, but got up quickly. Black, quick eyes fixated Claire and she moved back. With surprising speed the dragon crawled towards her and her back hit the wall. The dragon did not stop – and she clenched her teeth, before drawing her sword and took it in both hands. In the last second before the impact she rolled aside and dragon crashed into the wall, falling to the ground. As it tried to regain balance Claire quickly jumped on it – careful to not fall into the maw of the abomination. She reached the head, took her sword in both hands and lifted it. A quick swing was all she needed to behead the beast – it slumped immediately.

Claire jumped down, wiping her sword clean of the blood. Solaire approached her, reaching out to her. He affectionately gave a pat on her shoulder, before he examined the right claw of the dragon.

"I think, this is the solution to one of our problems." he said, holding up a key. "With this you should be able to continue towards Blighttown."

"What about you?"

Solaire sighed. "I have my own quest. And you did have proven that you are ready to fight your own battles. You have become strong."

"You won't come with me?"

"You asked me to let you go alone, did you not? I think you can do it. Alone. Some say that the fate of the Chosen Undead is one of solitude and I simply know, that you will come back to Firelink Shrine alone. I know that we will meet again. And never forget, there will always be somebody to help you."

"And still you distrust Lautrec."

"Do not trust everyone. Choose your comrades wisely and you will reach your goal with your friends alive. But now I must bid you farewell – I guess Blighttown is not a place to look for my own sun."

"You and your sun. Is there something I should know about Blighttown?"

"Some say that a powerful Pyromancer is located there. No one I know does know more about this person, so be careful and do not hunt ghosts."

"Pyromancers usually get along just fine. We are outcasts of society after all."

"It is a shame, really. You magic might be unrefined, but it is everything that is left from the ancient fire sorcery of the Witch of Izalith."

"It is?"

"A pyromancer does not know the story behind his own magic? How sad."

"Do you know the history behind every of your miracles?"

"Oh, no I don't. But I would like to."

"I would like a lot of things. Knowing more about Pyromancy is one of them."

Solaire laughed. "I think I know where the gate fitting to the key is located. You should go – maybe you will find out more about pyromancy than you like."

"Do you want to get rid of me?"

"No, I just want to see you again soon."

"Fool."

"Likewise."

Claire laughed. "Show me your gate, or else we both won't fulfil our goals."

The gate lead down to the darkness. Wooden planks were everything that separated a by-passer from the depths. Claire looked down, before she turned around a last time. Solaire gave her an encouraging nod, before lifting his hand to bid her a silent farewell. Claire nodded back and returned the gesture, before both Undead departed to their respective destinations.


End file.
